


Surreal But Nice

by heartskippedabeat13



Category: Faberry - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Notting Hill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-22
Updated: 2012-09-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 15:50:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/492950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartskippedabeat13/pseuds/heartskippedabeat13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Future Fic. Notting Hill, Faberry Style. “Some people do spend their whole lives together”.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Of course I've seen her films, and I think... well, she's Rachel Berry, I always knew she would be a star and now finally the world respected her as such, she is... she is something else.

Anyway, college and High School are things of the past and our troubled relationship faded over the years. Our twisted friendship was put on hold sometime between sophomore and junior year. I can't quite remember or maybe I don't want to remember the moment we lost touch. All I know is that it was completely my fault. It was me who needed to escape, I didn't want to face my confusion and sort out my messed up head. And I promised her to keep in touch, but I broke it and that disappointed her.

But now, it has been 6 years since we last met,she is a million million miles from the world I live in now, which is here... in Notting Hill, my favorite bit of London.

There's the market on weekdays, selling every fruit and vegetable known to man. The tattoo parlour, with a guy outside who got drunk and now can't remember why he chose 'I Love Ken'. The racial hair-dressers, where everyone comes out looking like the Cookie Monster, whether they want to or not. And then suddenly it's the weekend, and from break of day, hundreds of stalls appear out of nowhere, filling Portobello Road right up to Notting Hill Gate. And wherever you look, thousands of people are buying millions of antiques, some genuine… and some not quite so genuine.

I found many friends in this part of London which is great. Of course I miss Santana, Brittany, Mercedes and Sam. I skype with them every now and then, but there are also my new friends. That's Tony, for example, an architect turned chef, who recently Invested all the money he ever earned in a new restaurant.

And so this is where I spend my days and years now, in this small village in the middle of a city in a house with a blue door that my husband and I bought together before he left me for a woman who looked exactly like Sofia Vergara, only more gorgeous… and where I now lead a strange half-life with a lodger called Shira.

And so it was just another hopeless Wednesday, as I walked to work past the bustling collection of stalls and antique booths never expecting that this was the day my life would change forever.

Work is, by the way, my little travel book shop, a small unpretentious store named 'The Travel Book Co.' which, um, well, sells travel books. And, to be frank with you, doesn't always sell many of those.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I was just surfing through the channels and I stumbled across Notting Hill. I stopped and after watching just one scene, that I have already seen plenty of times before, the amount of Faberry feelings was so overwhelming that I ended up putting them in a word document.  
> Here's the result, at least the first tiny part of it…
> 
> If you are currently reading my other story, It's Always Today, you know that English is not my first language so if there's any mistakes in this, it's completely my fault, if it's good you should thank Anja, she is the best beta I could ask for!.
> 
> Whatever… What do you guys think? Sounds like fun? Hope you like it. X
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything Glee related. I do not own anything Notting Hill related. A lot of dialogues and scenes in this story are extracted from the script written by Richard Curtis. No copyright infringement is intended.


	2. Chapter 1:

It's another day in the Bookshop for Quinn. She has bought it a while ago. It's a small shop, slightly chaotic, with bookshelves everywhere and with little secret corners with even more books.

She is working, like every day, with her loyal employee, Martin, who is enthusiastically waiting for her to end her paperwork. He is very keen, an uncrushable optimist. Perhaps without cause.

"Classic!" Quinn groaned behind the desk, as her fingers pushed the buttons on her calculator. "Profit from major sales push... minus £ 347?" she concluded looking up from her papers to land her eyes on Martin, with a painful and disappointed look.

Martin grimaced and shrugged his shoulders trying to come up with something to make her feel better. "Shall I... huh, go and get you a cappuccino? You know, to ease the pain a bit?" he offered trying to be supportive.

"Yeah, that would help!" Quinn said as she looked at the numbers one last time before giving him a thankful smile. "But make it a half, that's all I can afford" Quinn joked but knowing deep inside that it was kind of true. At least if she only focused on the money that the business was making.

Martin joined Quinn's giggles and decided to play along. "I get your logic, so demi-cappu coming right up!"

Quinn smiled gratefully before burying herself in the rest of papers still waiting for her on her desk, while Martin went out quickly to get their drinks.

As he left, someone entered the store and Quinn spotted the figure of a woman dressed in black, with glasses and hat but decided not to care and engrossed herself again in her paperwork until the woman asked her for help.

But something had caught her attention, something had clicked in her head... those legs, those long, tanned and toned legs. She would recognize them anywhere in the world, it didn't matter how much time had passed. She couldn´t be wrong. She slowly looked up and saw the woman searching in one of the bookshelves, her back to Quinn. But Quinn knew she was right, even more sure when she caught a brief glimpse of the brunette's profile and recognized this particular, and in her opinion, perfect nose. It was Rachel, she knew it, but she needed total confirmation.

"Can I help you?" she asked trying to sound nonchalant, but her voice could not hide her nerves.

Rachel drifted her eyes from the book to the blonde, she took off her sunglasses and let her eyes show her excitement to see her but just for a brief second. They suddenly showed sadness and pain. "Quinn…" Rachel sighed, almost out of habit, but when the blonde was about to speak the emotions disappeared from her face completely, but not from their eyes. She cleared her throat before speaking again. "No, thank you. I'm just browsing"

"Alright …" Quinn said unsure how to proceed after the restraint Rachel showed her. But her eyes never left the brunette who was browsing through the books. When she decided to take a closer look at one of those books, the blonde spoke without thinking. "That book's really not good" Quinn said and when she saw Rachel's dazzled look she realized her sudden intrusion. "Just in case... you know, browsing turned to buying. You'd be wasting your money" Quinn stuttered, forcing a smile that could hide her nerves a bit. "But, if it's Turkey you are interested in, um, this one on the other hand, is very good…" Quinn added taking a book that was on her desk and gave it to Rachel who had still that puzzled look on her face but visibly amused by the blonde's behavior. "Um, I think the man who wrote it has actually been in Turkey, which helps"she added smiling about her own joke.

When she recognized the serious look on the brunette's face, she had to turn her attention elsewhere to avoid further embarrassment, cursing under her breathe.

_'What's wrong with me? God, it's Rachel! Rachel who must surely hate me for the way I treated her my entire pathetic life. She clearly does if all she could say to me was 'Quinn'. Crap, I need to control myself once and for all! And I have to stop with these stupid jokes that are a product of my nerves. I'm Quinn Fabray and I am 26 years old, come on!'_

"Thanks, I'll think about it…" Rachel replied only with a dull smile not looking at her and returning her attention to book.

"Okay, there are several more on..." Quinn was distracted by what she saw on the screen of the security camera. She observed a man trying to hide a book under his clothes. "Um, give me a second" muttered before moving to the back of the shop, feeling Rachel's eyes on her the whole time.

If there was something that the blonde had learned in all those years, it was to control her emotions and her temper. She had become calmer over the years, there was nothing to fuel the inner fire which turned her into the Quinn Fabray that almost all of her old friends still remembered. And even such a weirdo stealing her books couldn't throw her off. So she decided to deal with it in the same way she always did these days.

"Bad news, sir" Quinn stated. "We have a security camera right there" Quinn pointed to the device that was in the corner above their heads.

"And?" the man asked carefree, showing his disinterest in whatever Quinn wanted to tell him.

"And?" Quinn said incredulously. "I saw you put that book under your clothes so..."

"What book?"

"The one down your trousers."

"No, I do not have a book down my trousers…"

Quinn rolled her eyes and huffed losing patience, but not her calmness. "Right. Well... I tell you what, I'll call the police and If I'm wrong about the whole book-down-the-trousers scenario, I really apologize!"

"Okay, what if I do have a book down my trousers?"

"Well, ideally, when I go back to the desk, you remove the Cadogan guide to Bali from your trousers, and either wipe it and put it back, or buy it. See you in a sec…" Quinn concluded ending the issue, and turning around to find Rachel standing next to the counter with an amused smile on her face. But her smile disappeared the moment their eyes met.

"Sorry about that..." Quinn babbled somehow confused about Rachel's attitude giving her an impression of indifference again.

"Nonesense, Quinn. It's okay" Rachel assured her without looking up. Instead she was roaming through the book in her hand. "I was going to steal one but now I've changed my mind" Rachel joked finally looking up and smiled at her genuinely, leaving Quinn speechless with that simple gesture which was gone again in seconds. "Signed by the author, I see" Rachel said quickly changing the subject.

"Yes, couldn't stop him. If you can find an unsigned one, it's worth an absolute fortune!" Quinn said dead serious but just feigning it and the brunette chuckled, unable to keep up that cold attitude thanks to the goofy side of Quinn that she had missed so much and that she loved. Especially because it was a clear indication of how authentic the blonde was around her.

The smile faded leaving them with a strange but familiar feeling when they were disturbed by the inexperienced thief.

"Sorry, can you give me your autograph?" the man approached Rachel and handed her a small paper.

"Yeah, what's your name?"

"Rufus"

Rachel took a pen and without saying anything else, she proceeded and fulfilled the wish quickly before returning the paper.

"What does it say?"

"Well, that's my signature, and it says... Rufus, you belong in jail" Rachel said with such sarcasm that Quinn was surprised and couldn't help but smile.

"Good one…" smiled the man. "Do you want my phone number?" he asked seductively causing Rachel to give him incredulous look before responding even more sarcastic.

"Tempting, but... no. Thank you!" Rachel declined his offer. When the man left the store, the brunette pointed at the book in her hands, showing Quinn that she had made her decision. "I'm taking this…"

"Oh, right... on second thoughts maybe it wasn't that bad. Actually it's a sort of masterpiece really. None of those childish kebab stories you get in so many travel books these days!" she rambled. "And I'll throw in one of these for free" concluded Quinn, handing Rachel the bag with the chosen book and another one as a gift. "It's very useful for lighting fires, wrapping fish, that sort of things" she joked in hopes of generating another sincere and radiant smile on Rachel.

"Thank you, Quinn…" Rachel answered letting the words at the end slip, as if she wanted to say more, but only her eyes were able to transmit some kind of emotion that Quinn couldn't decode.

"My pleasure" the blonde nodded, not knowing what else to say. Even if something inside screamed at her to say more, but she never did. She just watched Rachel walk away leaving the store, and leaving a kind of emptiness that not only referred to the physical space in the room.

The sound of the doorbell got her attention again. Martin came in with two cappuccinos and brought her back into the real world.

"Thank you!" Quinn smiled taking a sip of her drink as she looked at her employee. "I don't think you'll believe who was just in here."

"Who?" Martin asked taking a sip of his own drink. "Someone famous?" he added quickly when he saw Quinn's smirk.

"No…" Quinn refused, already regretting asking him, knowing that telling him will generate a lot of questions.

"Would be exciting, thoughif someone famous did come into the shop, wouldn't it? Hmm? Do you know, this is pretty incredible actually, but I once saw Amy Winehouse."

"Oh, yeah? Where?"

"Kensington High Street. I mean, at least I think it was Amy. It might have been that girl from that pop band, the one who is married with the football player. Beckim?"

"Beckham, Victoria Beckham" Quinn corrected him trying to figure out their similarities. "Actually, Amy didn't look at all like, uh, Victoria Beckham"

"Yeah, but she was..." Martin stuttered. "She was quite a long way away from me"

"So it could've been actually neither of them?"

"I suppose so" Martin reluctantly agreed.

Quinn gave him a smile and drank the rest of the coffee.

"Want another one?" She asked, shrugging her shoulders when she saw the two empty paper cups.

"Yes, no, wait... let's go crazy! I'll have an orange juice" Martin suggested smiling at Quinn, infecting her with his bliss before the blonde took her purse and left the bookshop.

Quinn stepped outside the store, breathed the fresh air of the city and watched as everything around her continued to move at its usual rhythm. She tried to silence her thoughts about Rachel that clogged her mind.

The coffee shop was just around the corner from her little store, so she arrived there soon after and made her order and quickly returned to continue with her daily routine.

But she was completely lost in her thoughts and didn't pay attention to the world around her. As she turned around the corner she collided with another person.

It was not just any person.

When she looked up she saw Rachel cursing under her breathe because Quinn had spilt orange juice all over her white shirt.

"Oh, shit…" Quinn said, approaching the brunette to help her. She took the napkin that was still in her hand and unintentionally started to rub it against the brunette's torso, coming dangerously close to her breasts.

"Get your hands off me, Quinn!" Rachel growled annoyed, and Quinn stepped back, surprised by her attitude, and also by the movement she had made.

"I'm really sorry, Rach" Quinn said dropping her gaze visibly embarrassed about her action. "Look, I live just over the street. I have, um ... water and soap. You can get cleaned up ..." Quinn stuttered in panic trying to make it up to her.

Rachel took a deep breath and answered without even looking at the blonde: "No, thank you, Quinn. You have done enough already, don't you think?" Both looked into each other's eyes and the blonde understood that the comment not only referred to the little incident but to their loaded past, too. "I just... I just need to get my car back" Rachel already felt sorry for being so harsh to the blonde.

Quinn was confused, but determined to help her. "I also have a phone and I'm really confident that in five minutes we could have you spick and span back on the street again... in the non-prostitute sense, obviously" She mentally kicked herself for this comment.

"Quinn!" Rachel groaned but actually feeling a bit amused about the cute ramble that Quinn was performing. "All right. Well, what do you mean, 'just over the street'? Give it to me in yards"

Quinn smiled a bit, pleased to see a hint of Rachel Berry, Broadway and Hollywood diva, standing in front of her. "Uh, 18 yards…" the blonde smiled and looked over Rachel's shoulder, waiting for her to follow her eyes to see the exact spot on the other side of the street. "That's my house there with the blue front door"

Rachel nodded and the two began to walk in silence, Quinn opened the door and entered first. She had totally forgotten that it was a huge mess and that it looked as if a war had taken place in there. She tried to save the situation by grabbing some of the clothes that were lying on the floor and removing the remains of some takeaway that Shira had left there early that morning.

"Um, come in!" she finally said, giving her okay to Rachel who was still in the corridor. The brunette walked slowly and was astounded when she saw the messy place, drifting her eyes from the mess to Quinn, again and again. "It's not... um, not quite as tidy as it is normally, I fear, but..." Quinn looked around still cursing Shira while Rachel was still looking at her. "Anyway, the bathroom's on the top floor. And the telephone's just... just up there" the blonde pointed to her left.

"Thanks, Quinn" Rachel said pronouncing her name with such warmness and a sparkle in her eyes that Quinn felt a warm sensation running through her. "I have a phone, okay? But I would like to use the bathroom" Rachel smiled shyly and without further words she went up the stairs, passing Quinn who offered to take her bags.

The blonde shook her head in disbelief about her stupid behavior. "Shit," she huffed annoyed as she began to run through the kitchen trying to clean up the mess, at least as much as possible until Rachel would come back down, which gave her just a few minutes.

The brunette came down the stairs with a new shirt, the rest of her clothes were the same but not her attitude. Something in her look had changed. Her eyes landed on Quinn with such intensity that the blonde blushed unable to do anything about it.

Rachel went down to the last step and again let her eyes roam over the place before returning to Quinn's hazel ones.

"So... Notting Hill, huh?" the petite diva said, loading those three words with the emotional burden she didn't dare to voice. "Do you like it here? Are you happy?"

Quinn processes the words more than once in her mind, realizing that Rachel finally had decided to stop acting as if they both were two strangers. "London is a beautiful city, although I don't think I have found what I was looking for... I'm not complaining, it could be worse. I mean, I could still be a real estate agent in Lima, right?" Quinn smiled but she noticed how her answer upset the brunette, whose mood changed instantly.

Their eyes connected briefly, then Rachel diverted her eyes to the corridor that lead to the front door. "I think I should go..."

"Uh..." Quinn didn't want it to end so soon, not after Rachel finally showed signs that deep down she still cared about her. Or at least she was interested if she was happy. "Would you like a cup of tea before you go?"

"No, thank you." was all Rachel replied in a neutral tone that showed kindness but not much more than that.

"Coffee?"

"No…" she declined again politely.

"Orange juice?" Quinn asked, immediately regretting her words as she remembered what that drink had just caused. "Yeah, no, probably not. Um, something cold maybe?" she added quickly trying to correct her previous mistake. When she opened the fridge, she saw that it was practically empty. "Coke? Water? Some disgusting sugary drink pretending to have something to do with fruits of the forest? No, okay, that probably shouldn't be included in your vegan life style anyway…"

"Really, no."

"What about something to eat? Would you like that? Something to nibble on? Um, I could make you a … caprese sandwich? Without cheese certainly, which would make it a basil and tomato sandwich. Well, without bread and cheese so it could be vegan. So... no, that would not be a sandwich at all. But anyway I could make you that if you want…" Quinn rambled.

"No, but thanks" Rachel replied with a sincere smile.

"Do you always say 'No' to everything now?" Quinn asked, blushing, but frustrated at the same time, lowering her gaze so Rachel couldn't notice it.

The corners of her lips quirked upwards, but Rachel worked to keep her emotions in check. And then, after putting on a thoughtful gesture for a couple of seconds, she replied: "No" Her gaze locked on Quinn's for a second longer than what might be considered normal. "Um... I'd better be going. Thanks for your help" Rachel said almost in a mocking tone.

"You are welcome. And may I say one more thing. You look gorgeous, heavenly, Rach…" Quinn admitted, blushing. She looked into her eyes as she bit down on her bottom lip before quickly diverting her gaze. She stuck her hands in her pockets because she was becoming nervous and jumpy. It was hard to say something like that and even harder to Rachel in person. "I'm very proud of you. It makes me very happy to see everything you have achieved. Take my one chance to say it. I guess you weren't looking forward to seeing me or talking to me after all that happened. Plus, after you've read that awful book, you're certainly not going to be coming back to the bookshop either."

Rachel swallowed hard while looking at the blonde and her grimaced smile suddenly turned into a genuine and bright one, but not as radiant as Quinn had seeing before and which she had been missing so much every day of her life. "Thank you, Quinn. Believe it or not, listening to you saying that means a lot to me"

Quinn nodded without a word and accompanied her to the door. The two stood there, facing each other without knowing what to say.

The blonde was the one who made the first move her hands never leaving her pockets and giving her some security. "It was nice to see you again. Surreal but nice…" Quinn smiled nervously and Rachel mirror her smile almost mocking her as she turned around, forcing the blonde to open the door for her and without saying anything she got out, leaving Quinn alone, merely able to close the door. She turned around, resting her body against the door and releasing the breath that she didn't even know she was holding.

"Surreal but nice? What was I thinking? I'm so fucking lame!" Quinn cursed and went back into the house when the bell rang again.

She dragged herself back to the door and opened it. She was surprised to see that it was Rachel who was waiting for her on the other side.

"Hey again…" Rachel smiled at her sheepishly.

"Hey you"

"I forget my bags."

"Oh, right…" Quinn said without leaving the doorframe but the smile on Rachel's face made her aware that she should move and look for the bags.

Without a word she opened the door leading the way inside and hand the bags to the brunette seconds later.

"Thank you, Quinn" Rachel whispered gently. The blonde hadn't expected something like that and so she raised her gaze to meet Rachel's. She stopped breathing when their eyes locked and she lost herself in Rachel's bright brown eyes.

The two were still in the small vestibule, a small space that forced them to be close and so offered them a strange feeling of intimacy.

It was a moment in which the air was gone, the space and time, too. A second in which the girls saw the projection of her last interactions in the other's eyes. The return of Rachel with Finn, Quinn's excuses to avoid visiting her, their last conversation via Skype in which she confessed her that she was going to London, which ended in a fight that included words such as feelings, conflict, confusion and fear. The last time that they saw each other, in Rachel's door, when Quinn just stood there for a brief second confessing her all her feelings and kissing her before running away. And after that Rachel's attempts to contact her, but Quinn had rejected every one of them.

The two didn't move, neither could they take their eyes of the other. And in the end it was Rachel who decided to let it flow and give her body what it was demanding.

She stepped into Quinn's personal space without further hesitation removing the gap between them. She placed a hand on Quinn's neck and pulled the blonde closer while raising herself on tiptoes meeting her halfway and colliding their lips in a kiss that unleashed millions of electric shock to run through their veins.

Quinn didn't kiss her back. The kiss had caught her off guard. She was still motionless but she didn't break it either. She simply closed her eyes and let go. She captured her lips and deepened the kiss, getting drunk with the delicious sensation generated by her intoxicating lips.

The kiss didn't take long, but still long enough for both to forget the world around them. Rachel tried to extend it to the maximum time imaginable, lingering in the final seconds before reluctantly and slowly breaking apart.

The two stare at each other's lips, trying to save that strange feeling in their minds, but when they both realized what had happened, they freaked out.

Quinn was the first to break the awkwardness, hoping that Rachel wouldn't leave and run in that moment. Perhaps giving her time to clarify what she was thinking. That's why she said the first thing that popped into her head without being aware of how stupid it might sound. "I'm very sorry about the 'surreal but nice' comment... it was a disaster"

Rachel was panting but none of them had noticed it until she replied breathlessly, never breaking their gaze. "That's okay, I thought the caprese sandwich thing was the real low point…" she confessed while trying to calm her racing heart.

Quinn giggled and Rachel still kept looking straight in her eyes when they heard the clicking of a key in the lock.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry. It's my flat mate, I'm sorry. There's no excuse for her!" Quinn apologized and Rachel cleared her throat at the same time the door opened and she saw a girl walking in, a girl who didn't have anything in common with Quinn, neither looks nor manners.

Shira entered wearing dirty and destroyed sneakers, a huge shirt as a dress. Her arms were covered with tattoos and she was holding several bags and leaving a trail of cigarette smoke in her path, something that made Rachel feel really uncomfortable and turn to away when Shira passed right between the two of them.

"Hey!"

"Hello…" Rachel responded politely.

"I'm just going into the kitchen to get some food. Then I'm going to tell you a story about this chick I met today. Girl, if you meet her you probably want to cuddle your tongue inside her vagina, for the rest of your life, that's how bloody fuckable she is…"

Shira's voice died away with her silhouette, the silence in the corridor became the protagonist and Rachel still stood there, unable to process what had just happened, and what she had just heard.

Quinn felt really uncomfortable and roamed her head for a proper apology. When she opened her mouth to speak, Rachel turned and looked at her quickly answering. "Probably best if we do not tell anybody about... this!" Rachel said with a pleading voice begging Quinn to agree with that. One could see her inner panic in her worried eyes.

"Right, right... no one. I mean, I will tell myself sometimes, but don't worry… I won't believe it. Rachel Berry, star of Broadway and Hollywood, kissing me, Quinn Fabray? No freaking way…" she finished, still nervous, trying to find words for what had just happened. This time it wasn't her that recklessly kissed the brunette. This time it was the brunette kissing her intentionally.

Rachel looked at her thankful for goofing her way out of that mess. She blushed hard as she realized that her eyes looked unconsciously at the blonde's lips again, the same lips that she had kissed a second ago and she dropped her gaze to the floor and walked towards the door. Quinn opened it and she got out without looking back. All she could manage was an almost inaudible and shy "Bye".

Quinn was confused. Rachel had kissed her, fulfilling her biggest desire and wish she had dreamed of and wished for since that night she confessed her love to her. A feeling so terrifying that she had decided to fly to another country, another continent, leaving an ocean between them to alleviate the frustration of knowing that she could never have what she wanted.

This little kiss had given her a short glimpse of what could have been. And now? It left her with a feeling of emptiness, this time even stronger than the last time.

The strange sensation and the memories of the kiss didn't leave her for the rest of the day. She needed a distraction and so she ended up on the couch with Shira having a movie marathon. Her roommate was the one that chose the movies and so it accidentally contained the last big production starring one Rachel Berry.

It wasn't the first time that Quinn had seen it, but this time she focused all her attention on it. Her eyes followed every movement of the brunette and when she saw her smile in a close-up shot, which filled the entire screen, she felt her heart skip a beat and then beat speedily.

"Imagine... somewhere in the world there's a man who's allowed to kiss her" commented Shira cutting the silence and making the blonde smile for a second as she remembered that she had been the one to accomplish such a task only a couple of hours ago. And that hadn't been the only time, she had done it twice.

"Yes, she is... fairly fabulous" Quinn whispered without taking her eyes off the screen that showed Rachel smiling. A smile so grand that it made her insides flutter and that had the potential to break anybody's heart… It had already broken hers.


	3. Chapter 2

A day passed, then a second one and a third one. And finally a week had gone by since that weird and unexpected yet lovely and intense encounter.

Quinn's life returned to the same monotony that it had been since moving to that city. Waking up early, eating breakfast while reading the newspaper, walking the few yards to the bookshop to work; her fights with customers and her daily cappuccinos with Martin trying to brighten up her gray days with some witty and hilarious comments.

Only something had changed in her routine and that was the constant sensation of feeling Rachel's lips on hers, that feeling had never left her over the last 8 days. And as if that wasn't enough, more than once a day she saw busses in the streets with Rachel's face covering the whole side.

The diva was back in England, in her 'shelter', the same she had created to get away from the brunette. Her shelter was now invaded by the Berry-ness that existed in the streets knowing that the actress was promoting a new film in the city and shooting another one at the same time.

And so the days passed, her body had advanced in time and continued with her daily routines, only her mind was still caught in the hallway next to Rachel. It was replaying it over and over again.

And now, on an unusual sunny Thursday in Notting Hill, Quinn was on the terrace of her house, having a lazy conversation with Shira, who had chosen to wear Quinn's wetsuit for the day, which Quinn used when diving, with the excuse she had no more clean clothes.

But all that was forgotten in the exact moment in which Shira informed her that a couple of days ago she had received a call from a girl named Rachel, who had asked her to deliver Quinn a message that she couldn't remember, at least not completely.

Eager for information Quinn urged Shira to recall the phone call. She got the name of a hotel, Ritz, out of her and that's where Quinn needed to call.

"Hey!.. Hi ... Hello?" Quinn's voice sounded like the one of a nervous teenager, her hands were sweaty as she tried to get Rachel on the phone, which was harder than expected. Shira had forgotten to tell Rachel's nickname (she always used them when travelling incognito) and so she had to fight with the receptionist for several minutes before her roommate remembered that it might have been 'Sunny Breeze' or something like that. Quinn knew that in Rachel's world it had to be 'Funny Brice'. Quinn's assumption was right, so that's why she was now waiting for the brunette for answer the call.

"Hello?"

Quinn smiled and recognizing the voice immediately. "Hey, It's me ... Quinn!"

"You never change, Quinn, do you?. Uh-huh... you played it pretty cool there, waiting for three days to call…"

"I'm Quinn Fabray, former head cheerio of the WMHS! And that's how we do it…" the blonde joked. Luckily, Rachel took it as that and, her girlishly giggle could be heard through the speaker. "Actually If I'm calling only now is because Shira, who I'll stab to death later, never gave me the message" Quinn admitted taking a seat and calming herself for the first time since she heard Rachel's voice. "I don't know, perhaps I could drop round for a cup of tea or something later..." Quinn finished biting her lip nervously, longing for a positive response from Rachel.

"Umm, things are pretty busy here. I might be free around 4..."

"Awesome"

"Later, Quinn."

"Bye, Rachel" Quinn whispered ending the call and releasing a deep sigh, now fully relieved and anxious about the date. "Fucking awesome!" she muttered smiling to herself.

**xxXXxx**

_'American Cheerleader? What the hell was I thinking? What am I doing here?'_  Quinn was already in the hotel, but things had not worked out as expected. Instead Rachel was in a room full of journalists and assistants who took care of the press conference.

The surprise that she didn't find Rachel alone in a room but a whole bunch of journalists led to her saying that she was there for the magazine 'American Cheerleader'. She still didn't have a clue why why she had said it.

"Over here, please. You've got 5 minutes, okay?" an assistant told her, bringing her back to reality.

Quinn nodded and saw a huge double door open in front of her. Inside she saw an elegant room, a couch, flowers everywhere, a huge window and Rachel who was standing next to it, dressed with the perfect and most elegant dress for the occasion.

"Hey" Rachel said quietly, walking away from the window and positioning herself next to the couch, waiting for Quinn.

"Hey, yourself" Quinn replied, approaching the brunette, running her eyes up and down Rachel's body and blushing fiercely when their eyes locked and when she also noticed that the brunette was looking at her with an amused grin.

The tension filled the air. It'd been 6 years since the last time they had seen each other, except for the brief meeting they had just had over a week ago. Rachel had treated her like a stranger in the beginning, but it had ended with the brunette kissing her in her corridor.

"So, I…I'm really sorry about not calling you back. The whole two-names concept was totally too much for my roommate's pea-sized intellect" Quinn kidded, smiling shyly.

"Oh no, it's just a stupid privacy thing. You know, I always choose one of my favorite characters" Rachel confessed blushing as she recognized the amused grin on Quin's face. "Last time out, I was Mrs. Barbra, but it was not available this time" Rachel joked trying to break the tension when the presence of an older man ended her efforts.

"Everything okay?" the man, who seemed to be Rachel's PR agent, asked with an intimidating stance.

"Yes, thank you!" Rachel replied, wishing for him to leave them alone again.

"And you are from... American Cheerleader, right?" he directed the questions to Quinn who turned pale, feeling his skeptical gaze on her but she still managed to nod. "Okay, then…" he finished turning around but not leaving the room, just walking to the corner.

Quinn tried to calm her breathing and when she whirled around she was welcomed by an amused smile and Rachel's eyes fixed on her.

"American Cheerleader, huh?" the brunette joked subtly not to attract the attention of the man and biting her lip seeing Quinn shrug her shoulders. "Go ahead…" she added taking a seat and inviting the blonde to do the same.

Quinn took a seat and looked around, visibly nervous and not knowing how to react. It was clear to her that she should play the role of journalist because the grey-haired guy was still there supervising the interview.

"I should start, right?" Quinn said wanting to buy time until she knew what to say. Rachel smiled and looked the man in hope that Quinn would understand that there was no other way out. "Okay, I should start saying that I loved your last film... and I wondered if you had thought about using a group of cheerleaders in some of the scenes."

A smile broke across Rachel's face, she had a hard time holding back a laugh. But when she noticed that Jeremy had turned around and was giving Quinn a strange look, she put on a solemn face. "Well, it would have been interesting but the film is a faithful adaptation of Les Miserables. I don't think a group of cheerleaders would have fitted very well in the story." she replied as calmly as she could.

"Shit..." Quinn whispered realizing what she had asked. She had seen the movie, but her nervousness played totally against her. "Yeah, right... of course!" Quinn said to end the silence and sighed in relief when she heard the door open and close as Jeremy left the room, which left them alone again. "I'm so sorry, I arrived outside, they thrust those papers into my hand and I didn't know what to do." Quinn apologized approaching Rachel, looking apologetically in advance thinking that maybe her presence might cause a conflict for her.

Rachel smiled adoringly. "Relax! Breathe... Quinn Fabray is nervous? What did London do to you? Where is my Quinn?" the brunette fell silent when she noticed what she had said, the possessive form in which she had spoken immediately regretting it; even more at seeing Quinn's inquisitive look. But it didn't seem to bother her, at least if her smile was any indication, but she was intrigued. "You don't need to be sorry Quinn, it's my fault. I thought this would all be over by now."

Their eyes met again and electricity seemed to fill the air, but this time Rachel was not willing to make more mistakes. She had a particular reason why she wanted to see Quinn and needed to talk to her. "I just wanted to sort of apologize for the kissing thing. I seriously don't know what came over me. I just wanted to make sure you were fine about it."

It only needed a second, just a short second to shatter Quinn's illusions into pieces. A second for Rachel's heart to burst into pieces as she saw the pain in Quinn's eyes caused by her own words.

And another second for Quinn to make up her mind before answering. "I'm absolutely fine about it, it was nothing…" she said, emphasizing that last word and she observed how Rachel's brown eyes turned sad in a blink.

Jeremy's return put them on alert again, they both turned to look toward the door immediately. "Do remember that Miss Berry is also keen to talk about her next project, which she is shooting later in the summer" the man told the blonde while putting down a bottle of water next to Rachel.

"Oh, yeah… right!" Quinn said without giving it too much attention. Her mind was still focused on what Rachel had said. However, she decided to keep the situation under control and tried to find her way out of it without any fuss. "Some cheerleaders in that film?"

 _'What the hell am I doing? Why isn't my mind obeying me? And what the hell am I doing here? Why did I really come here? I came to give her the chance to reject me? She was the one who came to me, she was the one who kissed me and now she is the one that shuts me off even when we weren't anything in first place? Is this a freaking nightmare? This can't be happening…'_  Inside her a power struggle between the sensation she experienced and the loud voices in her mind was raging and it made her even more nervous.

Rachel stared into her eyes with a face still serious but her eyes sparkled in a way that could hypnotize Quinn despite all her efforts not to be vulnerable. "Well, it's an adaptation of West Side Story so ... no, I don't think so."

"Oh ... what a shame!" The blonde said feeling embarrassed by her lack of originality. "If you had the opportunity to work in a movie with cheerleaders, what you would think about it? Would you like that?" Quinn rambled and felt relieved again when she heard Jeremy leaving the room. "What a fucking nightmare, this is such a disaster. I mean, sorry ... This is the sort of thing that happens in dreams, not in real life. Good dreams, obviously. Not a dreamy thing that I heard somewhere but I think it's alright. I was such a bitch to you in the past ... but it's kind of a dream to be able to see you again. That's something I've been wanting for a long time now, you know that?"

"Hey... look at me…" Rachel whispered, cutting Quinn's ramble. The blonde had been lost in her words but now immediately recovered and raised her gaze, obeying Rachel's order. The brunette paused for a minute. "In that kind of dream, what happen next?" she asked with a tender smile playing with the words used a minute early by the blonde.

Quinn opened her eyes getting caught off guard and took a couple of seconds to figure out which was the best way to answer that. "Well, in that dream I think I go back to my old self to get back that attitude when we were in high school before I came here. And then I don't let anyone reject me or tell me that kissing me means nothing, because I'm Quinn freaking Fabray. So I'm just going to get what I want, and what I want is kiss… the girl" Quinn's cheeks reddened, but the fire in her eyes resembled that 16 year old girl that always got what she wanted.

Rachel let her mask go about this confession, her face started to light up with happiness. She smiled shyly and dropped her gaze to Quinn's lips unconsciously. This simple gesture rebuilt Quinn's confidence which was necessary to make the first step to close the distance them. But their little bubble burst when Jeremy walked in again and they both jumped in surprise. His appearance brought them back to reality all of a sudden.

"Time's up, I'm afraid. Did you get what you wanted?" Jeremy asked.

"Um, well... no, not yet …" Quinn said without taking her eyes off Rachel.

"Well, maybe just one last question?"

Quinn's face, same as Rachel's, lit up, both nodding gratefully to Jeremy who got out of the room again.

Quinn took a deep breath and decided to go for it, making it up to herself for her cowardice in the past. Knowing that time was running and that maybe this could be her only chance, she asked: "Are you busy tonight?"

Rachel took a deep breath before searching for expectant hazel eyes and replied as neutral as possible: "Yes."

Quinn's eyes widened and her jaw hit the floor. She was startled by the realization that Rachel wasn't kidding. She immediately put her walls up, showing her icy strong side, the same she used to show in High School. "Of course you are … what was I thinking? I'm such an idiot!"

"Quinn..." Rachel pleaded in a desperate attempt to get her attention but it was too late. Jeremy entered the room joined by another journalist and the blonde got up and was ready to leave the place as fast as possible.

There was a final exchange of glances, a last moment to see the other's vulnerability in each other's eyes. Their eyes could never deceive the other and without further words Quinn left the room.

She could feel a growing pain spreading through her chest and her eyes filled with tears. Not only had Rachel rejected her once but three times now. She was in such a shock that she was being dragged into a different room by a producer assistant without being aware of that. When she realized it, she already faced a new actor who was waiting for her questions.

She had to interview a couple more actors and even if all she wanted was to run away, out of there and find refuge in her room, she didn't have the strength to do it.

Finally she was ready to get out, her last interview was finished. She couldn't remember any of the questions she had asked, her mind was still trying to process Rachel's rejection.

She strolled through the hall towards the elevator, dodging camera crews and journalists on her way, when this guy named Jeremy called her again, grabbed her arm and dragged her into a new room.

The situation was like a déjà vu. A huge double door opened before her again and Rachel was the one who was waiting for her there again, only now one could see her tiredness and she had messy hair and wasn't wearing heels anymore.

"Hey" Rachel whispered nervously as Quinn entered in silence. The door closed behind the blonde but she remained in the door frame staring at Rachel in complete bewilderment. "Umm, that thing I was doing tonight, I'm not doing it anymore" Rachel confessed smiling nervously. Her cheeks were flushing under Quinn's intense gaze. "I told them I had to spend the evening with that gorgeous American ex HBIC and Cheerleader national champion that now seems to be an reporter of the American Cheerleader magazine!"

"Oh..." Quinn said still in shock, hating herself for letting her walls down so easily just because of these few words. Rachel managed to make all her anger go away in a blink.

"Do you still want to spend some time with this crazy-annoying-ex-argyle-and-animal-sweater-wearing-girl?"

"As much as I'd love to have the strength to say 'No', the answer is a definite 'YES'!" Quinn smiled, biting her lip and diverting her gaze to the side to control the anxiety that was consuming her.

"Awesome" Rachel replied with a goofy grin, visibly flushed.

"Oh, crap. I can't Rach ... I can't do it."

"WHAT? Quinn!?" Rachel was totally confused by her reaction, panicking at Quinn's sudden change of mind.

"No, it's not that" Quinn was quick to clarify it. "It's one of my British friend's birthday. Son of a bitch, we're meant to be having dinner… I totally forgot about it!"

"Your mix of British lady and American girl is something … that I find incredibly sexy, Quinn Fabray" Rachel joked, hearing how Quinn had a tiny little British accent. Her smirk and her comment made the blonde blush instantly. "It's okay, don't worry about it, okay? It's fine!"

"No, I want to spend time with you. I'm sure I can get out of it…" Quinn assured her already thinking of an excuse to justify her absence.

"No, silly. I mean if it's fine with you, I would kind of love to be your date, or something…" Rachel replied shyly but looking straight into her hazel eyes.

"Are you serious? You ... you'll be my date for my British friend's birthday dinner party?"

"If it's all right with you? I mean I don't need them to know that I'm your date. I don't even know if we are going to be on a sort of date. I just... you know, I'm trying to tell you that if you like the idea, I don't mind going with you to your British friend's birthday dinner party."

"I'd love that!" Quinn smiled, biting her lip again. She was having a hard time not to shorten the distance and kiss her right there, right now. "Our friend Max is cooking and he's acknowledged to be the worst cook in the world, but you know… You could hide the food in your handbag or something?" Quinn stuttered nervously, but incredibly happy with how things were turning out.

"That sounds like a lot of fun, I'll make sure to choose a suitable bag for the occasion!" Rachel joked with a bright smile on her face. "Call me later for the ultimate details, okay?"

"Okay!" Quinn said in a whisper lost in the immensity of those brown eyes that were stuck on hers.

"It was really nice to see you again, Ms Fabray from American Cheerleader. Surreal but nice …" Rachel smiled, the blonde smiled back, her inside bursting with happiness, before finally leaving the room.

**xxXXXxx**

A couple of hours later, they were about to meet for the second time that day.

Quinn had waited for the brunette in the lobby of the Ritz, they greeted each other shyly and walked out to get into Rachel's car.

When they sat in the back seat enjoying the privacy that being with Rachel's personal driver offered them, they finally relaxed. Quinn left a safe distance between them but her eyes were glued on Rachel's face.

"You look... beautiful" Quinn whispered blushing.

"Said the girl who is still the prettiest girl I have ever met in my entire life"

Quinn nibbled on her lower lip, trying to suppress a huge smile, her eyes now looking everywhere but at Rachel trying to avoid showing the brunette all her emotions. She could hide her blushing face anymore.

A couple of minutes passed in complete silence. It was so silent that they could hear each other's breathing and they both felt the urgent need to control themselves not to show how nervous they were. But eventually all their efforts were in vain.

"This is without a doubt the most uncomfortable situation I've experienced in a long time. And I don't understand why it must be like that. We are friends, at least we were friends once, right?" Rachel asked, placing her hands on her lap and playing with a ring to focus her attention on something else.

"You still consider me a friend after what happened?" Quinn asked with a hint of sadness in her voice

Rachel raised her eyes looking for Quinn's. They both connected in an intense gaze, finding all the answers they needed in the other's eyes, finding themselves again in that tiny but significant gesture. "Yeah, you are still there… hidden behind this new British lady image, patient, calm, even more gorgeous. I can see my Quinn, who opens her soul to you with one look into her mesmerizing eyes, and with a great sense of humor, partly black and not everyone understands it, but fascinating if you do. All of you is still there, I can feel it, am I right?"

Quinn smiled quietly, but she was haunted by guilt. It was the guilt that she carried around for all of her past mistakes and that hadn't disappeared… and Rachel noticed that.

"Let's do something. Let's forget about everything for a while, let's go and have dinner and then if you want to talk, we talk. Let's not make things difficult this early in the night, okay? "

"I need you to know how sorry I am for my past behavior" Quinn admitted with pleading eyes.

"And I am sorry for mine, but now I want to get to know this new part of your life"

Quinn frowned looking a little puzzled. "Sorry for your behavior? But..."

"I told you that we will talk after dinner. I need to talk, too."

"Okay" Quinn accepted; still trying to figure out why Rachel was apologizing.

The car finally parked in front of Max's house, where the celebration would be taking place. The two get out of the car in silence and walked slowly to the door, enjoying the warmth of the night, and mentally preparing for what was coming.

"I bought this for Honey." Rachel whispered pulling out a small baby blue box from her bag to show her. "Do you think she will like it?"

"You didn't have to bring anything, Rach. And she will definitely love it... is it from Tiffany's? Now I think I'm jealous…" the blonde joked while ringing the doorbell.

"Do they know about us?" Rachel asked her in a low voice.

"No, they have no clue." Quinn assured her as the door flew open in front of them.

"Hi, come in. Vague food crisis…" Max groaned without paying real attention to them as he rushed back to the kitchen.

Quinn turned and looked at her apologetically for the abrupt welcome and then invited her to walk in with her.

"Hiya, sorry the guinea fowl is proving more complicated than expected…" Bella said from the distance, rolling to the kitchen in her wheelchair to find both Quinn and Rachel.

"He's cooking guinea fowl?" Quinn asked worriedly when she suddenly remembered Rachel was vegan and that recipe wouldn´t be in her diet, not even in a million years.

"Don't ask!" Bella warned her with a smile before diverting her gaze to Rachel, who was at the blonde's side.

"Hi…" the brunette said timidly, stretching out her hand to shake Bella's hand.

"Hi!" Bella replied getting caught off guard, in complete shock for a few seconds as she realized who Quinn's guest was. "Good Lord, you're the spitting image of..."

"Bella, this is Rachel!" Quinn said quickly and gave to Bella a pointed look, warning her not to ask any stupid questions.

"Right…" Bella was flabbergasted, her eyes never leaving the brunette who was offering her a sincere and friendly smile.

"Okay. Crisis is over!" Max grunted behind them, dropping the towel to the island as a signal that he had finished his work there.

"Max!" Quinn approached him, placing her hand on Rachel's lower back to guide the brunette into her friend's direction. "This is Rachel" Quinn pointed out still nervous but with a proud smile on her face.

The guy looked up and approached them wiping his hand on his apron before shaking hands. "Hello, Rachel…" he said and when he saw Rachel he recognized the petite diva immediately. "Berry!" he mumbled being totally stunned. "Have some wine?" he added quickly to get out of this situation.

Rachel nodded and accepted his offer for a glass of wine when the bell rang again and Max apologized before running to get the door. As he passed Quinn, he gave her a puzzled look that clearly said 'What are you doing with Rachel Berry here?'.

Quinn and Rachel shared a quick glance but a new voice brought them back to the reality.

"Hi guys!" Honey entered the kitchen, but at the very moment when Rachel turned and smiled at her, the young girl was in a complete shock. "Oh holy fuck!"

"Hun, this is Rachel. Rachel this is Honey. She's my birthday friend!" Quinn indicated and Rachel smiled cheerfully at the girl.

"Hi, Honey!"

"Oh God! This is one of those key moments in life, when it's possible you can be really, genuinely cool – and I'm going to fail a hundred percent!" Honey confessed approaching Rachel and observing her intently. "I absolutely and totally and utterly adore you and I just think you're the most beautiful woman in the world. And more importantly I genuinely believe and have believed for some time now that we can be best friends. What do you think? "

Rachel was overwhelmed by the intensity of the girl in front of her, this new Quinn friend was nothing like Santana, but definitely have some similarity with Brittany. Rachel didn't know what to say so she just smiled genuinely, with a hint of nervousness. "Oh, well ... lucky me. Hey, here, I got you at present. Happy Birthday!"

"Oh you gave me a present. We are best friends already then…" Honey beamed at her, opening the small fancy gift.

Rachel smiled back and noticed that Quinn was tense, but when she was about to say something to calm her, the doorbell rang again and a new guest was being introducing to her.

"Bernie, this is Rachel!" Max introduced the guy who had just arrived.

"Hello, Rachel. Delighted to meet you" he said a little distracted, immediately turned to Honey to give her his gift.

Quinn caught Rachel's attention by pulling her on her arm to take towards a quiet corner to find a little privacy. "Are you all right?" she asked bashfully.

"Perfect, don't worry about me, okay?" Rachel smiled and fighting her desire to hold her hand. She knew that nothing of that was possible right now, at least not in that moment with Quinn's friends in the same room.

"Fine, I will go help Bella with the final preparations then... Make yourself at home, okay?"

Rachel smiled and turned to the rest of the guests, passing Quinn's side, rubbing her hand in her lower back flirtingly, making the blonde blush and turned around to hide her smile.

Bella, Max and Honey stayed in the kitchen and Rachel went to the living room with Bernie, who was handing her a glass of wine as he tried to entertain her. "So tell me, Rachel. What do you do?" he asked, sitting across from her.

"I'm a singer and actress!" Rachel replied before taking a sip of wine.

"Oh, splendid"

"And what do you do?"

"I 'm actually in the stock market myself, so... uh... not really similar fields. Though I have done some odd bit of amateur stuff. P.G. Wodehouse, you know, farce, all that. 'Oh careful there, vicar.' Always imagined it's a pretty tough job, though, singing and acting. I mean the wages are a scandal, aren't they?"

"They can be…" Rachel answered visibly amused.

"I see friends from university, clever chaps, been in the business longer than you ... they're scraping by on seven, eight thousand a year. It's no life ... What sort of acting do you do?"

"Well, I'm a theater girl. But right now I'm doing films." Rachel replied without giving too many details, really amused by this conversation and about him for not being aware of who she was.

"Oh, splendid. Well done! How's the pay in the movies? I mean last film you did, what did you get paid?" Bernie asked, taking another sip of his drink, interested in the conversation.

Rachel looked at him for a few seconds thinking what would be the most appropriate answer and then finally settled for the truth: "8 million dollars"

Bernie's face broke down and he made every effort not to spit out the wine that was already inside his mouth. Rachel needed all her acting skills to keep her seriousness.

"Right …" he mumbled still in shock as Bella's and Quinn's voices were heard indicating that the dinner was ready.

Rachel was a breath of fresh air for all of them. The tension vanished soon and it was an ordinary dinner among friends, no strange looks or awkward questions.

Quinn relaxed and began to be herself, happy to be able to show Rachel her new world, while the brunette felt an overwhelming pleasure of being part of the evening. She loved to surround herself with normal people, a thing that didn't happen to her in a long time. And it came with the bonus to see Quinn acting naturally, carefree and relaxed without worrying about what anyone could think of her...


	4. Chapter 3

"What do you think of the guinea fowl?" Bella asked Rachel, who was mesmerized by Quinn, adoring every little thing the blond was doing.

The brunette turned and looked into her eyes and she felt safe, safe to be herself, comfortable with the people around her and decided to be totally honest with her. "I'm vegan" Rachel whispered and saw Bella's face showed the nervousness and discomfort as she realized that none of the food they had, except for vegetables, entered the list of foods that the little diva could eat.

"So, how is the guinea fowl?" This time it was Max who asked and Rachel smiled about Bella's anxieties.

"Best guinea fowl I've ever tested!" she lied but ended with a genuine smile, maybe because of the good time she was having. Her and Bella's eyes met and she recognized a warm smile as a thank you for her little white lie. She smiled back and her gaze returned to the blonde who was in front of her, engrossed in a conversation with Honey, but from time to time turned around to look at her and give her a shy gorgeous smile.

The presence of wine guaranteed the constant presence of laughter and jokes, and Rachel was completely at ease watching Quinn and her friends from the distance, delighted by how well they fitted and how happy Quinn was being part of that. These wonderful people totally forgot who was sitting next to them and that she was a star. She was treated like everybody else and she loved that.

The after dinner talk included some delicious brownies as dessert and it came with an old tradition. The group taught Rachel what it was and how it worked.

"Having you here, Rachel, firmly establishes what I've long suspected, that we really are the most desperate hot of underachievers!" Max told her taking a bite of his brownie.

"Shame!" added Bernie from the other side of the table doing the same.

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing…" Max corrected him. "In fact I think it's something we should take pride in. I'm gonna give the last brownie as a prize to the saddest act here." he said placing the plate with the last brownie in front of him.

There was a small pause and all looked at each other. Quinn finally pushed the plat towards one of her friends with coy smile on her face. "Bernie" she said mischievously, arousing the laughter of everybody in the room.

"Yeah, yeah, all right …" Bernie silent them, starting to tell his saddest act. "Well, obviously it's me, isn't it? I mean I'm almost 30 years old, I work in the city in a job I don't understand and everyone keeps getting promoted above me. I haven't had a girlfriend since... puberty and, well, the long and short of it is, nobody fancies me, and if these cheeks get any chubbier, they never will!" Bernie finished eating the last bite of his own brownie, as everyone in the room erupted in laughter.

"Nonsense, I fancy you. Or at least I did before you got so fat…" Honey assured him nonchalantly, receiving some disbelieving looks of her friends before all of them burst out laughing.

"You see…" Max intervened. "And unless I'm much mistaken your job still pays you rather a lot of money, whilst Honey here, earns 20 pence a week flogging her guts out at London's seediest record store."

"Yes!" Honey agreed. "And I don't have hair, I've got feathers. And I've got funny goggly eyes, and I'm attracted to ruthless men and no one will marry me because my boosies have actually started shrinking."

"You see... incredibly sad!" Max said faking his sorrow and shaking his head in disbelief.

"But on the other hand, her best friend is Rachel Berry!" Bella teased causing giggles among the rest.

"That's true, I can't deny it. She needs me, what can I say?" Honey played along causing more laughter in everyone. Rachel had more fun than ever before.

"And most of her limbs work. Whereas I'm stuck in its thing day and night, in a house full of ramps. And to add insult to serious injury... I've totally given up smoking, my favorite thing, and the truth is... we can't have a baby." Bella decided to share her experience and all the laughter faded into complete silence because of the cruelty of the comment.

Rachel lost her smile and immediately searched for Quinn's eyes trying to connect with her somehow. The blonde looked at her and gave her calming wink, then moved her gaze back on Bella. "C'est la vie!" Bella finished as she shrugged her shoulders and looked away visibly upset. "Still, um, we're lucky in a lot of ways but surely that's worth a brownie!"

Max stared at his wife, Bella, and after an awkward silence returned to his role. "Well, I don't know. I mean, look at Quinn. Very unsuccessful professionally, graduated in one of the most prestigious colleges in USA. Divorced, used to be gorgeous and now she is just an adorkable... gorgeous girl. Okay, yeah, she is still gorgeous, and she has two of the most beautiful eyes that could make you fall in love with her in a heartbeat. But she is such a nerd inside. Anyway I'm absolutely certain she will never hear from Rachel again after she's heard that this nice girl was the typical HBIC, the perfect blonde girl in High School, and a bully. And that she was pregnant of her best friend's boyfriend while in fact she was president of the celibacy club."

Everyone laughed, except Quinn who was restless in her seat and just faked a smile. And Rachel who desperately searched for the blonde's eyes to ensure her that everything was fine and that the past was forgotten.

"Thank you very much, Max!" Quinn replied, visibly upset, at least for Rachel who knew that fake smile perfectly well and that look that could freeze hell. "Well at least I get the last brownie, right?" Quinn reached for the last brownie but Rachel interrupted.

"Hey, wait! What about me?" Rachel complained, getting their attention.

"I'm sorry? You think you deserve the brownie?" Max asked incredulously, almost mocking her.

"Well, a shot at it at least, huh?" Rachel looked at the rest for support.

"You'll have to prove it. This is a very, very good brownie and I'm gonna fight for it. I'm freaking Quinn Fabray after all!" Quinn told her in a serious tone.

Rachel took a deep breath, smiled mischievously at the blonde and gave her a defiant gaze as if they were back in the old days.

"Okay, where should I start? I come from a small town in the United States, I have two gay dads, obviously. My biological mother was never interested in me and instead she replaced me adopting the daughter of a… classmate. This classmate happened to be no other than…" Rachel made a pause and her eyes looked around to see how everyone at the table was expecting for her to continue. "Who was no other than the HBIC, the prettiest girl I have ever met, but back in the days the cruelest, too. She spend all of our first two years at High School throwing me slushies, kind of an ice drink, in my face, over and over again. If she didn't do it, she sent some of her friends to do it. They bullied me and made my life a living hell. She tried to destroy the Glee Club, which was the only thing why I was still going to school with a smile every day. But after that she changed, or well, she didn't change, she just let it go and began to be who she really was, not only the most beautiful girl I have ever met, but also the smartest, kindest and most thoughtful person I have ever met. She joined us in Glee Club, she stopped bullying me and of course her pregnancy thing changed her a lot. She began to play nice with me and at the end of our senior year we were sort of friends. She was the only one who always told me those things I didn't wanna hear but needed to hear. She stopped my marriage with my high school sweetheart because she got hit by a truck. I mean it wasn't on purpose but the accident made me stop the marriage. I think she was happy when she woke up and heard the news. And I was happy that she was still alive."

Rachel kept going, smiling as she remembered details of her past. Everyone sat there motionless paying attention to the story of the petite brunette, same as Quinn who gasped at some parts and smiled at others.

"We graduated from High School, I moved to NY and she moved to New Heaven. We were friends by that time, good friends. She gave me train passes to visit her and she visited me at least once a month the first year. But one day… one day she stopped visiting, stopped skyping, she began to disappear from my life. We had a huge fight over Skype and some time after that she unexpectedly knocked on my door, out of the blue, and when I opened she looked me in the eyes, melting my heart and kissed me, without warning, without anything. She just landed her lips on mine and I felt like I was born in that moment, like my heart started to beat for the first time. She broke away, told me that she loved me and that she was sorry and then she ran off, cutting me out of her life completely. That day she turned around and left me there, unable to stand to her decision, disappearing from my life and forcing me to disappear from hers without ever giving me the chance to tell her that I loved her too, that I have been in love with her for god knows how long… "

Rachel's voice began to tremble and she took a second to compose herself. The silence around her was an indication of how everyone was mesmerized by her story, especially Quinn who held her breath, choked as tears crowded her eyes. The blonde was almost shaking and she didn't know how long it would be possible for her to maintain her composure without anyone noticing.

"That was the first and the only time I felt my heart being shattered in pieces. And it never healed because part of me is still in that door, waiting for her to come back…" Rachel whispered swiping off a warm tear that was slowly running down her cheek. "Anyway, I still had Broadway, a million of castings in which I was rejected for not being pretty enough, until the opportunity came and I achieve everything I've ever wanted. But something was missing, I was alone. Then there were boys and girls coming and going, not a single one who loved me for who I am, just for who the world thinks I am. So I went back to my high school boyfriend, because I thought that he was the best I could get, only to realized that no matter how alone I was, I didn't want him and his violent attitude. And like if nothing of that would make me worth of that brownie, I have to read daily how the press makes a monster out of me, saying that I'm a diva and they talk about my life like if it was a TV show, making up stories, saying that I'm underweight just to say that I'm fat the next week …" Rachel finished with forced smile.

The whole group was silent, looking stunned in the diva's direction. And Quinn was breathing hard, staring at her eyes. She cringed at hearing Finn's name and the word 'violent' with it. There was a fire in her eyes mixed with her cold face and Rachel saw it and knew they both would be having a long talk after dinner and that she would have to explain a lot of things, too.

The silence lasted a second longer than normal, but then in unison, all but Quinn, began to laugh. "Nah, nice try, gorgeous, but you don't fool anyone!" Max answered as the rest agreed laughing, showing that they didn't believe a single word she had said.

"Pathetic effort to steal my brownie!" Quinn joked to make her feel better, but she was furious about what she had heard. But seeing the brunette so upset made her feel the need to release some of that weight as quickly as possible.

Rachel gave her a thankful look and the two shared a brief but meaningful glance in which there was an implicit promise of a long and sincere talk when they were alone.

The talk went at ease and they both calmed down and enjoyed the jokes and anecdotes from the rest, laughing freely, without worrying about anything else.

An hour passed until Quinn informed her friends that she and Rachel would leave now.

"Thank you for this lovely evening!" Rachel thanked Bella and Max, shaking their hands.

"I'm delighted!" Max smiled and was surprised to see Rachel approach him, putting aside all formalities and kissing his cheek affectionately.

"It was really, really lovely to meet you, Bella!" the brunette said after turning to her and kissed her cheek and gave her a small hug.

"Thank you for joining us. And I promise you I will wait until you've gone before I tell him you are vegan" Bella joked. Max was surprised and became red with embarrassment while Rachel giggled amused.

"Good night!" Rachel told Honey, approaching her.

"It was an amazing birthday. Since we are best friends now, ring me if you want someone to go shopping with. I know lots of nice cheap places, not that money is necessarily..." Honey realized she was rambling and just shook her head and smiled. "I just... It was just so nice to meet you"

"Happy Birthday, you are my style guru now…" Rachel smiled sincerely.

"Sorry. Can I just…" Honey approached Rachel and went for a hug that surprised the brunette but she hugged her back.

"We gotta go …" Quinn growled and greeted the rest of them as she escorted Rachel to the door.

The door closed behind them, they were just a step out of the house when they heard screams and laughter coming from the inside.

Quinn bit her lip, sunk her hands in her jeans' pockets and looked embarrassed at the shorter girl. "Sorry for that…"

Rachel looked at her adoringly and said nothing, just smiled and forced her to start walking. She didn't want to call her car driver, it was not too late and waking in the warm starry night sounded like a plan and much more tempting than going straight back to her hotel.

"So the cool HBIC went nerdy, huh?" Rachel joked to break the silence as the two walked side by side.

"Well, you can't be surprised about that, you always knew it"

"Good point, but I'm gladly surprised that you are no longer hiding it in the four walls of your room" Rachel mocked her and Quinn smiled shyly.

The kept walking and the blonde was still silent, but Rachel seemed more edgy and with the urge to keep talking. "Quinn..."

"Yeah?"

"Why is she in a wheelchair?"

"It was an accident, a really bad one, it happened about eighteen months ago." Quinn admitted having flashbacks of her own experience in a wheelchair

"And the pregnancy thing. Does that have something to do with the accident?"

Quinn kept walking, still hands in her pockets because that was the only way to hold back the desire to touch Rachel. "You know, I'm not sure. I don't think they'd tried for kids before, as fate would have it."

The street was wrapped in an exquisite quite atmosphere while the two were walking slowly. "Do you want to... um, my house is just..." Quinn stuttered, suddenly feeling really nervous about everything.

Rachel bit her lip trying to decide what was best, but she knew the answer from the beginning. "Too complicated, don't you think?"

Quinn looked at her in disbelief but decided to attribute that to the fact that Rachel was under observation of half of the press in the entire kingdom. But she couldn't help it and dropped her head.

"Are you busy tomorrow?" Rachel asked amused, with a playful voice and a bright smile as Quinn looked up facing her again.

Quinn frowned in surprise. "Tomorrow? I thought you were leaving..."

"Yeah, I was... but not anymore" Rachel smiled and her face lit up when she saw Quinn's face do the same.

The kept walking in silence and a few minutes later Rachel felt safe enough in that corner of the city to relax and shorten the distance, getting much closer to Quinn and entwining their arms.

They walked aimlessly for several minutes in complete silence, just admiring the serene landscape illuminated by a giant moon shining brightly among the stunning starry sky.

When they walked by Rosmead Road, elegant but monotonous houses made way to green walls full of beautiful flowers. That caught Rachel's attention in a blink. "What is this?" the brunette asked breaking the silence.

"They call them communal gardens. All these streets round here have these mysterious gardens in the middle of them. They are like little villages." Quinn explained while Rachel stood in front of a small fence that apparently was the only access to the park and she saw another one just like that across the street.

"Let's go in!"

"Um, no ... that's the point, Rach. They are private villages, only the people who live round the edges are allowed in"

Rachel turned and examined her looking for sarcasm but she didn't find any which truly surprised her. "You abide by rules like that now? You, the one Quinn Fabray who used to break into the school with her Cheerio master key?"

"Yeah well, I was a teenager then, and it was America. This is something else. The people who live here are very rich people who could put you in jail for breaking and entering"

"Well, in case, if that happens, I think we could share my lawyer!" Rachel smiled and without even giving her time to process, she was climbing the fence gate to jump across.

"Rach, you know that if something happens to you, it will be in the yellow press all over the country and maybe the world. It would be better if you…" But Quinn didn't even have a chance to convince her, the brunette was already landing inside the garden giving her a challenging look which told her to join her. "Never mind, what Rachel wants, Rachel gets... It was always like that" Quinn whispered to herself as she began to climb.

Quinn jumped inside, cursing her earlier choice of shoes. Why didn't she choose ballerinas, which would have made the fall a little less painful? But then she raised her gaze and was bedazzled by the beauty of the place around her.

She saw a huge garden in front of her, the light of the moon and the stars lit it up in a beautifully magical way, and Rachel's silhouette a few steps ahead of her made the scene perfect.

She joined the brunette who just stood there totally fascinated by the place as well.

"Now what in the world in this garden could make that call to your lawyer in the middle of the night worthwhile?" Quinn joked, standing next to Rachel.

The brunette slowly turned her head, locked their gazes and got lost in those mesmerizing, warm and hazel orbs. She let it flow, leaned a little closer and pressed her lips onto the blonde's soft pink lips.

Quinn stepped back in surprise, but quickly put her arms around the brunette's waist pulling her impossibly closer to her body while Rachel moved her hand to her neck to deepen the kiss.

It was an innocent kiss in the beginning and Quinn assumed control, touching Rachel's lips with hers without a hurry, taking her time. The calmness of the kiss disappeared and changed in that very moment when the brunette brushed the tip of her tongue against her lips. Quinn lost control, allowing her own tongue to meet Rachel's. Their lips locked in a passionate kiss and she couldn't hold back moans of pleasure. Her body was flooded with sensations and a firework of feelings exploded in every tiny cell of her system.

They finally broke the kiss gasping desperately for air but their eyes still locked and their hearts pounding. Quinn rested her forehead against Rachel's trying to stabilize her throbbing body, and she had the feeling that she could die of happiness, right there, right now, in the brunette's arms.

"Awesome garden …" Quinn whispered biting her lip, feeling Rachel's smile against her lips when the brunette kissed her for the second time in the night.

Rachel broke their intimacy and grabbed her hand to drag the blonde further into the elegant and magical garden. Quinn just let her, doing what she had been doing her whole life, which was to answer Rachel's desires.

"I'm beginning to understand why you are so hooked on this place and this city…" Rachel smiled turning around and getting drunk with feelings from the fairytale view. Quinn just smiled and kept her eyes on Rachel. She didn't need more, this was her perfect sight.

"So…" Rachel slurred setting her gaze on the blonde fearfully, walking slowly across the park. "What you said before, was it true? You loved me?"

Quinn looked into her eyes, smiling shyly without understanding how the brunette did still not believe her. "Yeah, but don't speak in the past... I love you, here and now" Quinn admitted.

"But why … ? Why did you leave me, Quinn? "

"And what you said at the dinner, was that true as well?" Quinn asked immediately, recalling the entire speech given by Rachel just an hour earlier

"Yes, Quinn! If you hadn't left me alone in the hallway that day, I would have gotten the possibility to tell you."

Quinn dropped her gaze to the ground. Every bone inside of her remembered that day. "When we talk on Skype that day, you told me that you were back with Finn! What did you expect from me?"

"I expected from you to fight for me!"

"For god's sake! You were with Finn, Rachel!"

"Because I never thought I could be with you, the person who I really loved."

"You knew I was in love with you and you still went back to Finn. You have no right to come to me and say such things."

"You didn't give me any chance to speak. I wrote you, I called you… come on, Quinn! I even traveled to New Haven and you didn't want to see me! What did YOU expect me to do?"

"But you were with Finn, Rachel! You were in a fucking relationship with him! I told you that I was confused and you didn't say anything. Then I went and kissed you and you never kissed me back! Do you really believe I was going to stay there and let you break my heart over and over again?"

"I didn't want to be alone, are you going to blame me for that? And after you kissed me you left me, . !"

"It hurt me a lot seeing you with him, it hurt me even being at your side, being your friend, Rachel! It hurt so much that each night and day this feeling became more and more intense and stronger. It was like that from the very beginning, even before slushing you for the first time."

"But it didn't hurt you to leave me, right?" Rachel snapped back completely frustrated.

"That's what you think? Look where we are!" Quinn yelled opening her arms and pointing at the place around them. "I had to go across the ocean to try to forget you, leave my life behind to try to be happy without you..."

"Well, tell me something then… Are you happy now? Was it worth it to hurt me like you did?"

"Rachel I ... I never thought I was going to hurt you doing what I did. I never thought that you could match those feelings. I needed to be honest with you, I couldn't keep on lying to you. You deserved better, you always did!"

"Just answer the fucking questions! Are you happy now? Did you find your happiness here?"

"Happiness? That's a word that it has long been erased from my dictionary, Rachel" Quinn admitted with teary eyes and Rachel put her anger aside, feeling a knot in her stomach to see Quinn so vulnerable and sad. "I can live a good life, I have amazing friends around me, I have my house, my job, I live in a beautiful city… I have a lot more than what many have"

Rachel swallowed hard looking straight into her hazel eyes. "When we skyped and you told me that you would be traveling to England during semester break and that you were even considering to move here for good, and that you needed to make up your mind… I… I didn't know that I was the one forcing you to do it. If I had known… Why didn't you tell me that back then?"

"I told you…"

"You never spoke clearly about anything, you used words such as feelings, confused, impossible, complicated, but you never told me what was really going on in your head!"

"Maybe I didn't… I don't know. What happened, happened … end of the fucking story…" Quinn mumbled with a trembling voice, kicking the grass with her foot unable to look Rachel in the eyes.

Rachel stared at her for a brief second, the next second she was an inch away from the blonde, wrapping her arms around her shoulders and pulled her closer in a needed hug that melted her bodies together. And Quinn hugged her back, squeezing their bodies together, her arms clung tightly to Rachel's waist almost as showing her inner craving of not lettingher go anymore.

"Do you dare to cry, Quinn Fabray! You are still the prettiest girl I've ever met…" Rachel whispered in her ear and she felt Quinn's arms holding her even more tightly as her face sank into her neck. "And it still breaks my heart seeing you sad. I'm sorry for being such a coward back then, I'm sorry for letting you think that I was in love with Finn, I'm sorry... I never wanted to hurt you, Quinn. I should have had done something, I'm so sorry about everything…"

"You can't buy me by saying I'm the prettiest girl, Rachel Berry. Especially because you know I'm a lot more than that…" Quinn stepped back smiling but at the same time still fighting some tears. She took a deep breath and decided to leave the pain behind because although those wounds were still open, she had learned to leave it in the past. She knew it was the only way to focus on the present and the future.

"I love you, Quinn Fabray" Rachel whispered, feeling the blonde shaking in her arms at hearing those words for the first time.

"And I love you too! But I'm so scared, Rach...It's has been 6 years, I don't know where we are anymore…"

Rachel cupped her cheeks and kissed her lips tenderly in a gentile brush. Then she took Quinn's hand and they began to walk again. "I don't want to fight with you anymore. At least not tonight... can we just keep it simple?"

"As if I have ever been able to deny you something…" Quinn smiled shaking her head and walking beside the brunette in silence.

After several yards, the two stood in front of an elegant wooden bench that was strategically located in front of a huge tree.

 _"For June, who loved this garden. From Joseph who always sat beside her."_  Rachel read the inscription imprinted on the wooden bench. "Some people do spend their whole lives together…" she added really moved by the meaning of that words imprinted on the bench before them.

Quinn sighed and turned to face Rachel, observing how the moon light illuminated her whole face, making her looks even more beautiful than usual. The brunette made her way to the bench and sat down on it, raising her gaze and staring at Quinn, finding again her home in that warmth radiating from her hazel eyes. "Quinn, come and sit with me …"

It wasn't a question, it wasn't an order either. It was Rachel asking Quinn to sit with her, simple as that.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Rachel expressed her desire to feel her closer in every possible way. And Quinn didn't hesitate and obeyed happily, shortening the distance and sitting down on the other end of the bench, when she suddenly felt Rachel's body cuddling her, and letting her head rest on her shoulder.


	5. Chapter4

After spending over an hour in the garden, the two went separate ways. Rachel returned to her hotel while Quinn went back to her house.

The next day started early for both of them and around noon Rachel called the blonde to make sure that their date later that night was still on. The blonde was in charge of organizing the date.

After some deep thoughts Quinn had settled for going to the movies, which seem to be ordinary for a lot of people but not for one Rachel Berry, rising Hollywood star. She wanted to make Rachel feel as normal as she could, so the best for her was to find a place where they could keep a low profile but still enjoy the film like everyone else.

The film wasn't really important. What mattered was the time they had with each other, somehow a starting point to meet half way after those painful 6 years.

"Why are you not into acting? Why are you not doing anything related with what you spent years studying? You are meant to be a lot more than just the owner of a travel bookshop" Rachel asked out of curiosity, taking a sip from her glass of wine that had just been served. The two had left the movie theatre and walked to a small but elegant restaurant only two blocks away.

"I like being surrounded by books, I have always loved that. Reading, creating my own parallel universe" Quinn shrugged, as if that was enough to explain her choice.

"Not good enough" Rachel frowned at the trivial answer. "I don't want to say that you are wasting your life because it's not like that. Hey, don't eyebrow me!" the brunette pointed out smiling at how Quinn was taking her comment. "I know you love books, but are you telling me that you settled for just being a travel bookshop owner?"

"Wanderlust, maybe… If there was something that has caught my attention, well, I'd say it would be traveling. It's what always fascinated me, discovering new cities, having great adventures, experiencing new places. I was lucky enough to travel a little when I was a kid, my parents used to take me to awesome places for holidays. Then when I came here… this was heaven, I'm close to everything, every small town has its own charm. I've been traveling a lot in these last years… Europa, Asia and a tiny bit of Oceania. And I might or might not be writing about those trips in a kind of journal. But nobody knows about that…" Quinn smiled mysteriously as she took a sip of her wine.

Rachel's eyes widened at the sudden confession. Quinn was writing? That for sure was something new and exciting. But then realization hit her, she connected the dots and frowned fixing her gaze on the blonde. "Quinn…"

"Yeah?" she replied knowing what Rachel was about to ask her.

"You live in one of the most expensive areas here in London, and now you are telling me that you have been traveling a lot in the last years. But at the same time I really doubt your travel bookshop is operating in the black at the end of every month and you live with a crazy roommate in a place that looks like if you are leftover-hoarders! Why do I feel like I'm missing something? "

Quinn smiled and took a sip of her wine. "Well, I got my dad's money after my mom forced him to give me and Frannie what was ours. And well, you know he is a fucking rich prick so… it was a lot of money. But when I moved here I decided to start again and let people get to know me for who I am and not for what I have, or rather what he has, like they did in High School. I never wanted to touch even one dollar from that account until I realized that it made no sense. He had made my life a living hell, so the least I could do with it was to spend it for something good … and use it to make my life a little more colorful. Well, so I have seen the world and found many beautiful places. And I still do…"

"Wow…" Rachel breathed out, speechless. "So you live with Shira…"

"I didn't want to be alone and beneath her extravagant and bizarre appearance, there's a great person, a great friend. She is just something else, like Brittany. But what can I say? She makes my life so much more enjoyable, day after day …"

"Wait, she said something about a girl that day I met her. Is she gay? Are you and her…"

"NO!" Quinn cut in knowing where she was going, feeling disgusted at the mere image of that. "Nothing ever happened and nothing will ever happen. NEVER!"

"But you did get married, was that true?"

"Yeah, it was the stupidest decision I ever made. Luckily it only lasted for a few months…" Quinn joked.

"Why did it end?"

"He saw right through me…" Quinn snorted amused

"Uh-oh ... Not good enough, Fabray"

"Umm, I said I didn't love him and he took it ... a little personal" Quinn shrugged, assuming that this issue was of no relevance for her anymore.

"And was there somebody you were in love with?" Rachel joked, smiling mischievously.

 _"You can give me Rachel Berry any day …"_  was heard from a nearby table that was behind a column and of course someone mentioning her name caught the attention of both Quinn and Rachel who shared an amused glance.

_"I didn't like her last film, I fell asleep as soon as the lights went down."_

Rachel looked at Quinn and smiled, showing that she wasn't bothered at all by that comment.

_"Any film with her in it's fine by me!"_

Quinn bit her lip and smiled, making a face indicating that she agreed with the last person who had spoken. Clearly there were at least 4 people at the table and all men.

_"The point about Miss Berry is she got that twinkle in her eyes..."_

The two smiled, no doubt enjoying to listen to the conversation without those people knowing anything about that. But that change drastically when Quinn heard the next comment.

_"Probably drug induced. She spends most of her time in bloody rehab, you know, everyone says she is such a crazy bitch behind the scene"_

_"Whatever. You see, most girls ... they're like 'stay away, chum.' But Rachel, she is absolutely gagging for it ... Do you know that in over fifty percent of languages the word for 'actress' is the same as the word for 'prostitute'?"_

Quinn changed her face completely, coldness took control over her face and a fire inflamed in her eyes that she didn't even know she still had. Her fingers almost bent the fork when she saw how Rachel dropped her head in embarrassment. It didn't help to calm her either.

 _"And Rachel, she is your definitive actress. Someone really filthy you can just flip over and start again..."_  Another comment joined by more laughter from the rest of the men around the table and Quinn lost it.

"Right, that's it..." Quinn's fork fell out of her hand hitting the floor soundly. Quinn stood up and Rachel attempted to stop her. The brunette knew that look very well and knew Quinn's determination with this sort of things. She wouldn't be able to stop her.

Quinn walked passed some tables and finally found the table where the laughs had come from. She saw five men in suits sitting there. "Excuse me" the blonde spoke with a . .tone.

"Can I help you, gorgeous?" One of them stepped forward, making her even angrier.

"I doubt you can, love. Do you guys realize you're talking about a real person, right? A person for whom you dying to be with, yet never in your pathetic lives will be yours. You all are five losers who probably still live with their mothers, who come home every night complaining about how they can't even get a promotion at work much less to be with a real woman. So instead of talking like that about a lady, why don't you use that time to ask yourselves what you have done wrong in your lives to be out with another four chaps on Friday night, instead of enjoying the company of a beautiful woman?" Quinn's calm tone in her voice combined with her intense gaze and killer smile that could make anyone tremble, left them completely silent.

The brief silence was broken by one of them who decided to reply to Quinn's rant. "All right, cutie, very funny but apparently we aren't the only ones spending their Friday night alone. Who are you? Berry's fan club president?" Everyone broke out in a laugh and when Quinn was about to explode for the second time, Rachel took her arm to calm her down and drew her back to their table.

The blonde obeyed reluctantly, visibly angry, but without creating a larger scene since that would create more problems for the brunette. "Son of a bitch, I would so kick their fat asses if that wouldn't get you in trouble!"

"Hey, it's okay …" Rachel shushed her. "I love how you stand up for me, Quinn. I should have said something! In fact ..." the brunette stopped and spun around to return to the table with Quinn following her and secretly praying that Rachel wouldn't do anything that she might regret later.

"Hi!" Rachel smiled at the group, catching their attention. The men were flabbergasted by her appearance. "I'm sorry about my lady" the brunette said, pointing to Quinn who was behind her still looking pissed. "She's very… sensitive"

"Um, look, I'm ..." one of them try to apologize but Rachel didn´t let him.

"No, no, no. Leave it, it's you know ... I'm sure you meant no harm and I'm sure it was just friendly banter. And I'm sure your dicks are all the size of peanuts. A perfect match for the size of your brains." she added with a perfect smile and ironic voice. "Enjoy your meal. The tuna's really good!" she finished before turning around, leaving everyone speechless as she intertwined her arm with Quinn's, forcing her to walk towards the exit.

**xxXXXxx**

"I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have done that!" Rachel repeated even if they were already walking towards her hotel.

"I agree, but you called me your lady so ... I'm not going to complain" Quinn joked bumping her shoulders playfully yet keeping her distance because they were in a hot spot for the press now.

"I was rash and stupid. God, what are you doing to me?"

Quinn smiled, chewing her lower lip and staring at her with that look that said she would have no problems kissing her right there. However she held back that longing for reasons well known to the both of them.

"Good question, Ms. Berry. But I have no idea"

"Me neither!" Rachel chuckled amusedly. When Quinn stopped all of a sudden, she realized that they had already reached their destination. "Here we are" she breathed out with a grimaced smile that showed her frustration to know that the night was over.

"Seems like that, huh?"

"Do you want to come up?" Rachel asked quickly, clinging to the possibility to continue enjoying the blonde's company.

Quinn looked around and sighed deeply. "Well, there seems to be lots of reasons why I shouldn't. So..." The blonde didn't know what else to say, but seeing the sparkles in Rachel's eyes made her lose all rationality.

"Yes, Quinn, I know that. There are lots of reasons ..." Rachel roared then sighed heavily. "Do you WANNA come up, Quinn?" she asked again with pleading eyes.

Quinn answered with her eyes rather than her words. "Do you even need an answer?"

"Give me 5 minutes!" Rachel smiled at her as she walked away getting lost in the hotel lobby.

Quinn waited less than two minutes before she received a message from Rachel telling her in which Room she was waiting for her. She was close to freaking out, so she took a moment to calm her breath and shaking hands before entering the building.

She took the elevator and finally walked slowly toward the room indicated.

Quinn knocked on the door softly and when Rachel opened the door, the blonde didn't give her time for pulling back. She just followed her impulse and gapped the distance, leaning in to place her lips softly on Rachel's lips.

She smiled against Rachel's lips because she could feel how the brunette was kissing her back. But a second later she opened her eyes confused when the brunette broke the kiss and pushed her away placing her hands on her chest.

The blonde looked at her and saw that the brunette was freaking out.

"What?" Quinn asked puzzled. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I just couldn't help it. You are so beautiful and I've wanted to do that since I saw you early tonight." Quinn told her sweetly.

"Shit ..." Rachel mumbled closing her eyes knowing in advance that everything is going to hurt once she opened her mouth again. "You've got to go, Quinn!"

"What?" Quinn asked completely confused. "Why?"

Rachel looked into her eyes helplessly and got up on tiptoes and kissed her again, extending the last seconds to have the blonde close.

"Quinn ... this is not what it seems but ... fucking hell!" Rachel groaned stomping her foot frustrated and pissed off. "Finn is here" she confessed in a whisper and felt Quinn step back looking in horror, trying to see if that was just a horrible joke. But it wasn't.

"What? You are fucking kidding me, Rachel, aren't you?"

"I didn't know, Quinn!"

"What kind of sick game is this?"

"You have to believe me! I didn't know! He came as a surprise and is in the next room and ... Quinn it's not what it seems, I swear I didn't know!"

"Oh my god!" Quinn exclaimed connecting the dots. "You and Finn ... oh my fucking good! I can't believe you! You ... you ... oh, god! You make me sick... how could you do this to me?" Quinn was hysterical, completely pissed off, moving frenetically in the place, unable to believe the situation she was experiencing in that moment. She needed to scream, to do something, but her body was disconnected from her mind.

"No, Quinn, look at me, it's not what you think!"

 _"Rach, babe, who is it? Is the room service?"_  could be heard from across the room and Quinn cringed at recognizing the voice, feeling a knot in her stomach.

"I don't need to be here for this. It was too good to be true! Okay, I think I deserve this after all the things I have done to you in the past but..." Quinn said, a tear falling down her cheek, hating herself for showing Rachel how hurt she was, even more seeing Rachel looking at her in silence. "Do you wanna break me? Was that your plan? Congratulations, Rachel! You fucking did!" the blonde yelled turning around to walk away.

Rachel cursed under her breath and grabbed her arm trying to stop Quinn's rant. "Quinn please, just ... it's not what you think it is!"

"Don't fucking touch me!" Quinn yelled shaking her arm to free herself from Rachel grip who looked really scared by the ferocity of that attitude. "Who are you? Who fucking are you?"

Their eyes met for a brief second, a second with this tiny moment which broke their hearts a little bit more and the next thing Rachel knew was that she was standing alone in an empty hallway while Quinn was walking out of the building driven by the adrenaline, not knowing where she was heading and tears that were running down her cheeks uncontrollably.

**xxXXxx**

One day, two days, three days and finally a week was what Quinn spent in her refuge which was her bedroom, crying her heart out day and night, same as she had done 6 years ago, when she had run away from Rachel.

Everyone said that there is only one step from love to hate, and Quinn was about to take it. She couldn't believe what Rachel had done, she couldn't find a rational explanation in her mind for Rachel's behavior. There was no answer why the brunette would have wanted to hurt her like that on purpose.

But the more Quinn thought about it, the more she realized that she had no right to expect a different behavior from Rachel. She didn't have the right to hate her for hurting her. Her past collapsed around her. Didn't Rachel have all rights to take this opportunity as a revenge for her past behavior? If Quinn wasn't able to forgive herself for how cruel she had been, why should Rachel do it? She understood Rachel in some ways and she even justified her thinking that in the end she maybe deserved that pain.

In the second week the situation didn't change so much, Quinn was a ghost wandering from home to work. She didn't cry anymore but just because she no longer had any tears in her system. She had spent that second week torturing herself watching all and every single video or film with Rachel in it. Same routine every night, alone, on her couch, just with the TV screen as her company.

She hated her for what she had done to her and she also loved her because it was her destiny. At the same time she had the feeling that love was so messed up, addictive like drugs. Despite knowing it was not good for her, once she had tasted it she couldn't live without it anymore.

But time passed and she endured her pain pretty well, like if it was part of her. After the first month her friends began to introduce her to new people, forcing her to meet someone new, go on dates.

She had four dates and also long talks with her friends, telling them her real story with Rachel. She spent hours surfing the internet to follow Rachel's recent news.

Three months had already passed when she went back to her daily routine with a smile on her face, accepting her life without one Rachel Berry in it. Just this time the wound was still open, she had tasted part of her possible future by kissing her and that needed time to heal.

A day like any other arrived, a boring morning routine in which Quinn got up, turned on the coffee maker, then grabbed the newspaper before going upstairs to take a shower. But this time was different. When she grabbed the newspaper she saw Rachel on the first page. The photo and the title indicated what the story was inside and Quinn couldn't even go past this first photo.

The brunette was in really compromising position with nonexistent clothes. Those photos weren't recent, but that didn't matter. Quinn engaged the auto-pilot and decided not to get involved in Rachel's life.

Quinn threw the newspaper away and took a relaxing bubble bath that lasted over 30 minutes. Finally she came back downstairs, trying not to think about Rachel anymore. Rachel wasn't important in her life anymore, at least that was what she was trying to tell herself over and over again.

Everything was about to change the very moment in which the doorbell broke the silence.

Quinn walked through the corridor and opened the door expecting to find anything but what she ended up finding.

"Hey ... Quinn" Rachel slurred with a broken voice.

Quinn froze in surprise. Rachel was wearing huge dark glasses, a pair of jeans, sneakers, a hoodie and cap. She was a shadow of her former self, but it was her, it was Rachel, she had no doubt about it.

"Can I came in, please?" Rachel asked trying hard not to burst into tears right there. And Quinn saw it and felt with her. She had reasons enough to close that door, but she couldn't help it and so she moved her body to make space for Rachel to get in.

Rachel walked past Quinn and straight to the living room, throwing herself on the couch, lifting her legs, and wrapping her arms around them, burying her face on her knees, bursting into tears. Her heavy sobs and her tears broke Quinn's heart, making her feel the pain as if it was hers.

The blonde stood there for several seconds in silence, struggling inside to control such a powerful desire to run over to Rachel and hold and comfort her safety. But Finn's voice was still in her head remembering what had happened the last time they met.

"I'm so ashamed I can't even look you in the eyes" Rachel stuttered in between sobs.

"Look on the bright side; at least I'm not a stranger. You're talking to the same girl that filled the bathroom walls in school with pornographic pictures of you, so ..." Quinn didn't know where this came from, but she knew the purpose of it was to ease Rachel's pain a little.

The petite brunette lifted her head and looked at her and a genuine little smile was trudging through her constant tears. When she saw Quinn's eyes, the corners of her mouth twitched because she was suddenly aware of all what had happened between the two of them, of how much she had hurt Quinn and even after all that the blonde was still there and offered her shelter. Her heart broke again and a gut-wrenching sob filled the air. "Sorry, Quinn. You don't have any idea about how sorry I am!"

"What are you apologizing for? Is this about the last time we met? Don't worry, it's not as if that had been the first time you broke my heart! It hurts not so much anymore or I learned how to handle it" Quinn said with a resentful undertone in her voice. But she gave her a warm smile. Rachel knew that she hadn't forgotten about it but she was mature enough to have a conversation without letting their history cloud her judgment.

Rachel studied her face, searching for a fake smile or something like that but all she found was a genuine smile and a hint of sadness in her eyes, an indication that she meant what she said. They were still on good terms, or at least not as bad as she had thought.

Silence took over and Quinn sat in front of Rachel watching how the brunette was roaming the place with her eyes to find something she could focus on.

"Do you ... do you want to talk about it? Would that make you feel better?" Quinn asked timidly, a little helpless because she didn't know what to do to get her out of the emotional hole she had fallen into.

"You don't think that I'm a slut? It's okay if you think that..." Rachel growled but annoyed with herself, not with Quinn.

"We all do stupid things. I got involved with boys just to prove to myself that I'm not in love with one Rachel Berry. And so I slept with Puck and ended up pregnant"

Rachel landed her gaze on Quinn quickly and looked into her eyes intently. "Is … is that true?"

Quinn shrugged without offering any details. They didn't have many secrets, this was one of it.

"Quinn..."

"It's in the past, Rachel, and it gave me Beth. So I'm not regretting it, just regretting not being able to see her as much as I would love to, but that's another story"

"The photos ..." Rachel started out taking a deep breath, resting her chin on her knees and fixing her eyes on the window that was on one side. "The photos were taken some years ago, I don't know what to say… When I was being rejected for all the roles because I was not pretty enough, someone told me that maybe…. maybe I should show more than my nose. Well, I believed him. I thought that maybe those pictures would show them that I was not fooling around, that I could be Maria but also I could perform a more controversial role and that I was an actress with all the frills and that I wasn't a naïve girl. The saddest thing is that I never used them, it wasn't really me…"

"Rach ..." Quinn whispered, feeling her heart shrink in pain when she heard about the hard times Rachel was going through.

"No, I never did anything bad. That was just a photo shoot in my apartment ... Finn took them, it was his idea" Rachel confessed slightly embarrassed.

Quinn frowned at the boy's name and her mind did the rest. When she figured it out in her mind, she was seized with anger at one. "Rachel, who was the one who sold those pictures to the press?"

The brunette stared at her sad and embarrassed "Finn, he warned me…"

"This son of a bitch, I should have killed him back in High School, such a fucking rotten bastard!" Quinn's hands turned into fists and she kept swearing until she locked eyes with Rachel and recognized the fear in her eyes. She was scaring her because she had lost control completely.

"When you left ... that day, he wanted to surprise me. As far as it was concerning me our relationship was over for weeks, maybe months. We split up months ago and I didn't want to see him again either. We didn't maintain any way of contact; we never talk after I dumped him"

"Rachel" Quinn growled showing her that she wasn't looking forward to talking about it.

"Quinn, just listen to me, please. What I told you is the truth. When you left me I spoke with him. I didn't want anything of him anymore. I told him that our relationship was over and he begged me to at least take his friendship offer ... and I agreed. That's why you probably saw a photo of us after that day, but there was nothing going on between us. Until a week ago it was okay. He came to me asking me to take him back. I rejected him, of course, and told him that I was in love with someone else and he went crazy..."

"I know how crazy and kind of violent he is… did he… did he hurt you, Rach?" Quinn asked immediately.

"No, of course he kicked some chairs and hit the wall, that's how he is. And of course he threatened me with those photos and I told him that I didn't care because I never thought he would have the nerve to do this to me. But now the pictures are everywhere! It was a stupid photo shoot that was personal and stuck on our computer. And now they are selling it as if it was porn!" Rachel complained again bursting into tears. "The pictures are everywhere, in every little corner of the world!" Quinn remained silent and Rachel struggled for control, she wiped of her tears with the sleeve of her hoodie and looked at Quinn.

Just looking into those mesmerizing hazel eyes made her feel at home, she felt safe just by feeling this protective and adoring gaze upon her, even when Quinn's face was struggling to remain neutral leaving some distance. "I just ... I didn't know where to go, I only have you, Quinn" the brunette confessed and broke out in a wrecking sob again."The hotel is surrounded by paparazzi. I know it's been months, I know I was awful to you but ... I need you Quinn, I really need you right now." and again more tears, tears that seemed to be endless.

Quinn took a deep breath and sat down on the couch next to the brunette and pulled her close to her body wrapping her arms around her tightly. "It's okay, Rach. It's gonna be okay. You are safe now" she comforted her and felt how Rachel clung tightly to her body and cried harder burying her face on her chest.

"Thank you, Quinn" she whispered holding her close, letting Quinn's heartbeats bring her peace and help her to relax.

After a couple of minutes Rachel broke away and began to walk frenetically up and down in front of Quinn, feeling completely nervous and anxious. "I'm in London for two more days, but ... with those pictures and all the paparazzis around, it's definitely not the place to be right now" Rachel confessed in a trembling voice. "These are such horrible pictures. God, they're so grainy. I can't even speak to my dads, I..."

"Hey, shhh ... Relax, breathe, okay?" Quinn smiled and got up to walk towards her again. "Just, don't think about it, not now at least, okay?" she begged her smiling sympathetically and squeezing her shoulder showing support.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I was so awful to you, I don't deserve this" Rachel stepped back and started to cry again.

"I also did horrible things to you, I'm in no position to judge you, plus I believe you, okay? Now... just tell me what would you like? A cup of tea? A bath? Just tell me what I can do to make you feel better"

Rachel rolled her eyes and swiped away some tears that were still rolling down her face. "A bath would be lovely right now, thank you"

"Just go upstairs, last door in the hallway is my room, the first is the bathroom. Take your time, use what you need, get whatever you want to wear from my closet, okay? I will cook something for you in the meantime"

Rachel looked at her, immensely grateful, and thanked her with her eyes before grabbing her bag and headed up to find her inner peace again.


	6. Chapter 5

The brunette entered the bedroom and smiled at Quinn's touch in every little corner of her room, her personality reflected in every detail.

Without wasting too much time she grabbed a pair of sweat pants, a t-shirt and some towels before heading to the bathroom.

Quinn's voice could be heard from downstairs while Rachel was preparing to take a relaxing bubble bath, the blonde informed her that she would go to the market across the street for some ingredients and Rachel agreed shouting back a simple 'Okay …'.

Without wasting more time she took off her clothes and immersed herself in the bathtub, put on her headphones, set her iPod on low volume and closed her eyes.

The inner peace didn't last long. A couple of seconds later she heard footsteps in the hall and someone entered the bathroom.

"Hey, you must be Shira!" Rachel smiled, even when in other time she would have panicked for being naked in front of a stranger. Now there were pictures everywhere, so she reminded herself that the whole world had seen her naked body. She was really amused seeing the puzzled look on Shira's face. The other girl drifted her eyes from the newspaper in her hands to Rachel and back.

The girl didn't say anything and left, only to re-enter a second later.

"Hey again …" Rachel smiled and even chuckled at Shira's confusion.

"Just ... checking!" the girl stuttered before leaving the bathroom.

Rachel smiled even more when she heard her shouting through the house a second later. "Bloody hell, Quinn Fabray!"

"Hey, watch your mouth and don't you dare go into the bathroom!" Quinn warned her while entering the house and seeing Shira walk down the stairs.

"You are too late, you little lesbian hero of mine!"

"What? I'm gonna kill you, rip your fucking head off and feed the ducks with it!"

"And when would that be? Before or after you fuck the pornstar!?"

"SHIRA! Out, go, NOW! I don't know where to but just go and never ever speak like that again. Did you hear me?" Quinn pointed out as Shira passed by her side giggling.

When she heard Shira close the door, she breathed in relief. She couldn't be angry with Shira because she knew the girl didn't have one tiny piece of evil in her. She just speaks without thinking but she didn't want Rachel to hear those things which might make her feel uncomfortable.

Quinn sighed and turned around. She finished making breakfast at the speed of light as promised.

Just over 10 minutes later the brunette went down and Quinn realized when she saw her that she was about to fall in love with her a little bit more.

The brunette smiled shyly at Quinn and helped her move things to the table. Both sat down and started drinking coffee in silence.

"This is ..." whispered Rachel raising the bagel shyly.

"Yes, it's vegan. Same as everything on this table"

"You didn't have to..." Rachel assured her but Quinn interrupted her.

"I know, but it's nothing and I'm sure you were pretty hungry. My house is not the Ritz but at least I can make sure that you are eating something you actually like."

Rachel nodded and took a bite of her bagel. She had a pensive look on her face reflecting the complexity of thoughts that plagued her mind.

"Quinn?" the brunette whispered seeing Quinn sipping her coffee.

"Yeah?"

"I never lied to you, you know ... I'm in love with you, and I'm not telling you this because I 'm expecting something from you, I just want you to know that I didn't lie, it was true, it's still true"

Quinn looked deeply into expressive brown orbs and she knew immediately how sincere Rachel was. However it wasn't something she wanted to talk about now. "It's okay, I know you and I know you are not lying"

"Quinn?" Rachel repeated in the same tone of voice.

"Yeah, Rachel?"

"Are you seeing anyone?"

Quinn put the coffee mug on the table and glanced at her raising her eyebrow. "Well, there's a question without an interesting answer!" the blonde joked nervously.

"I've never stopped thinking about you. And I'm not just talking about the last incident, I'm talking about ... always!" Rachel confessed.

Quinn sighed deeply staring at her, visibly uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking. "Rach ..."

"It's true, Quinn. Every time I try to date someone I just compare them with you and there's no one who could compete with you. I don't want them! That's why all my relationships always end in a disaster. And I don't know, maybe my life is destined to be a disaster, but if that is the case I would rather end up in a disaster with you by my side and only you. I'd love to be your disaster and hope you'd be mine."

"Okay, it's ..." Quinn made a grimace of discomfort and stood up walking to the refrigerator to get more air rather than to find something in it. "Listen, Rach. I..." The words faded and she didn't know what to say so she made a pause and then changed the subject. "So, what is that? A film you are doing?" the blonde asked returning to the table, pointing to the script that Rachel had placed next to her.

Rachel looked at her trying to get something out of Quinn, but then gave up knowing that this wasn´t going to happen, not in that moment at least. She dropped her gaze to the script. "Yeah, we start shooting in a couple of days in LA." she confirmed, forcing a smile.

Quinn took a seat and smiled, she needed to erase the uneasiness but at the same time maintain a certain limit. "Would you like me to take you through the lines? I'm not a celebrity but I remember some things I learned in Yale."

"Would you like that?"

"I would like it if you like it …"

"Smartass!"

"Watch your mouth, tiny girl. Your past self would be so ashamed of you right now"

"Back at you, blondie!" Rachel laughed handing the script to Quinn.

"Shhh, tell me, what is this about?"

"It's a remake of Evita, I think you know the musical." Rachel smiled and broke out laughing when Quinn shot a not very amused glare at her.

"The one you forced me to watch countless times? Yes, I know the story..." she groaned, beginning to delve into the script.

**xxXXXxx**

_"Dice are rolling, the knives are out. Would be presidents are all around, I don't say they mean harm, but they'd each give an arm to see us six feet under ground."_ Quinn read impersonating Peron, not singing, but putting some harmony in her narration.

 _"It doesn't matter what those morons say. Our nation's leaders are a feeble crew. There's only twenty of them anyway. What is twenty next to millions who are looking to you?"_  Rachel sang submerged into the role of Eva Peron, walking from the left to the right, on the terrace, in front of dreamy hazel eyes. Quinn was still sitting in a comfy chair at the outdoor table, under a big umbrella that protected her from the sun, following the brunette with her eyes tirelessly.  _"All you have to do is sit and wait. Keeping out of everybody's way. We'll ... you'll be handed power on a plate when the ones who matter have their say. And with chaos installed you can reluctantly agree to be called."_ Rachel ended and turned around looking at Quinn who smiled and put the script on the table. "And? How was I? "

"Perfect!" Quinn breathed out without being aware of it. During most parts of the day she had been hearing Rachel sing the songs of the musical. She was the male voice giving Rachel the clues and so they went through the script over and over again. She didn't know if that was the best way to rehearse, but Rachel seemed to be happy with that way and she definitely enjoyed listening to her voice. Her only hope was for Rachel to sing freely, not just limited in a low, yet beautiful, voice.

"How many mistakes?" Rachel asked nervously, knowing that the time of the filming was coming closer and that she still couldn't concentrate enough.

"Twelve?"

"Shit! I'm not gonna make it in time!" Rachel was frustrated and kept walking from side to side on the terrace, but at least she was happy for being able to enjoy some fresh air instead of hiding in her hotel room. "What do you think?" Rachel asked as she approached the blonde and sat down on the chair in front of her, visibly calmer.

"About this? It's good, I don't know… I've never been Team Evita, but I think it's a great play and you are gonna kill it"

"You don't like her? I knew it! But, how could a woman not like Evita?"

"I'm so not gonna talk about politics right now… but, you just need to talk with a couple of Argentines to realize that not everything that she created and provided was what they really believed in and lived for at that time. In my opinion some of her ambitions were really selfish and definitely not good for the country, some of her ideas were helpful but still … .What I mean is that if I had to choose a woman as a role model or inspiration, Evita wouldn't be my choice"

"You are not helping me by smashing the character I will be interpreting, Quinn! Especially in one of my favorite musicals"

"That's why I will not talk about politics. Want my opinion on the artistic aspect? I like the director but I'd rather see you working with Sofia Coppola someday."

"Really Quinn?"

"Yes, I mean… I like her and her style, she is a really great director and..."

"No, I mean are you really going to have a 'but' to everything I'm doing?" Rachel said amusedly, loving how after all that time Quinn was still the one who was totally honest to her.

"It's not that, but ... okay enough!" Quinn shook her head smiling. "What do you think if we come back to this … I will not allow you to leave the UK without knowing every little word in this script!"

"As you order, Fabray!" Rachel smiled the biggest smile of the day, and the biggest in a long time. Without a doubt Quinn was doing a great job to make her feel better.

Rachel lost herself again into wonderful, warm and hazel eyes that were looking back at her. Then they both returned their attention back to the script, focusing on those lines for the next hours. They only stopped when the sun went down and Quinn suggested going inside to keep going.

"I can't believe you have that picture on your wall" Rachel smiled, looking at the painting on the wall. They both had been sitting there for a while but she had just noticed it.

"You like Chagall?" Quinn asked surprised as she put some water in her glass, hours of rehearsal were leaving her without a voice.

"I do!" Rachel answered admiring the canvas. "It feels like how love should be. Floating through a dark blue sky..."

"With a goat, playing a violin!" Quinn added, giggling.

"Well, yes. Happiness wouldn't be happiness without a violin-playing goat!" she mocked the blonde and they both began to laugh amusedly.

**xxXXXxx**

Hours passed, the night arrived and Shira returned to the house with pizza as an apology to Quinn and Rachel. Luckily the girl had responded to Quinn's request and had brought the vegan version for Rachel, so the three of them ate together.

Dinner was short and fun, Shira stayed for a while then rushed up the stairs leaving them alone again.

They both moved to the living room, Rachel sat back down on the couch with the script on her lap and began to read silently while Quinn sat in the arm chair that was in front of Rachel and pulled out a book that she had apparently been reading since she opened it where a bookmarker indicated.

For several minutes the two remained lost in their reading, although the brief and veiled glances between the two never disappeared, each hypnotizing and relaxing in the tranquility of the other.

"You have really long fingers" Rachel muttered, catching Quinn's attention. The blonde looked at her hands then at Rachel.

"Yes, always had" Quinn laughed as she turned her eyes back to her book.

"You know what every one of my gay friends would think about your long fingers, right?" Rachel bit her lip and hid her face behind the script not believing what she had just said and also fearing the blonde's answer

"Um, no... What would your gay friends say about it?" Quinn replied, pretending not know.

"Well ..." The brunette didn't know whether to go on with the joke or not, but there was no way to say anything without sounding vulgar. So she decided to play safe: "They would think ... that you could play piano very, very well"

Quinn smiled and ended up bursting into a hearty laugh that banished all of Rachel's fears and concerns. With that simple but wonderful sound Quinn lifted the weight and so all her pain and sorrow from Rachel's shoulders, making her feel extremely happy. For Rachel just being near Quinn was enough, it was so simple when they were just the two of them. That was all she had ever wanted.

**xxXXXxx**

"You know what is the worse?"

"Your Broadway reputation?"

"No, not that, Broadway is another world, a much better one I'd say. The thing that's so irritating is that now I'm so totally fierce when it comes to nudity clauses. They are going to laugh in my face next time I sign a contract." Rachel growled, anxiously pacing around the living room, while Quinn remained comfortably seated in her arm chair, with a bowl of ice cream in one hand and a spoon in the other.

"You actually have clauses in your contract about nudity?" Quinn asked curiously. She had a slight idea how the industry worked but still she couldn't stop her surprise when she heard Rachel making such comments about her career as if it was something totally ordinary.

"Definitely, 'You may show the dent at the top of the artist's buttocks, but neither cheek. In the event of a stunt person being used, the artist must have full consulation.'"

"Do you have a stunt bottom?" Quinn asked mischievously.

"I could have a stunt bottom, yes." Rachel's voice softened as she approached Quinn and she sat down on the small coffee table opposite her.

"So there're people tempted to go for a slightly better bottom than their own?"

"Yeah! Hell I would! This is important stuff." Rachel replied with a quick and emphatic nod.

"Come on, you do not need that, your ass is... you know, do not let me say it…"

"Maybe I want to make you say it…"

Quinn rolled her eyes and decided not to respond, however she kept joking about it. "It's one hell of a job, isn't it? What do you put on your passport? Profession: Ryan Gosling's bottom?"

"Actually, Ryan does his own ass work. Why shouldn't he?" the brunette said flatly before stuffing a spoon full of vegan ice cream into her mouth. "It's delicious!" she moaned with her mouth half full.

"The ice cream or Ryan Gosling's ass?"

"Both, smartass!" Rachel smiled broadly.

"Rachel!" Quinn upbraided her without even being aware of how her jealousy was taking control of her. When she did, she flushed with embarrassment.

"But I prefer yours, I always have!" Rachel winked at her playfully and went back to eat her ice cream, leaving Quinn completely speechless and blushing even more. "God bless those pervs who invented cheerios skirts ... Not kidding, I mean it!" the brunette added seductively with a fire in her eyes that showed that she still vividly remembered the image of Quinn in her cheerio uniform.

"Rachel!"

"What? You thought you would be walking down the hallways swaying your hips like you did and expect that no one would notice that squeezable ass of yours?" Rachel smirked looking right into her eyes. Her own eyes darkened at that mere thought. She was messing with Quinn but not really, it was the truth so who could blame her?

"Who are you?" Quinn asked her bewildered, astounded at this new side of the brunette, so uninhibited and confident.

Rachel bit her lip, still not taking her eyes off Quinn. Then her smile grew huge in advance of what she was about to say: "I am someone who would totally squeeze your perfect ass. I would have done it back then, I would do it now, I would do it 20 years from now…"

Quinn's face was dark red, her whole body was on fire and she blushing to the very tip of her toes. "Okay..." she mumbled nervously. "This is not okay, you know ... enough" Quinn ended almost shaking, her eyes fixed on the wall behind Rachel.

Rachel began to laugh soundly, content with how easy she could set Quinn's world on fire, how easy she could shatter the blonde's walls and shelters. Quinn was struggling with herself but in the end she gave up and laughed along with the brunette, as a way of appreciating her efforts to win her over.

Being around Quinn for the entire day had been a heaven on earth for Rachel, a breeze of fresh air in her boring and exhausting routine over the past years. It felt so good being here with her even if she knew that Quinn didn't seem willing to give in and even when the two of them flirted, the blonde always ended putting some distance, a limit between them.

"There's no more ice cream? Guess it's time to go to bed, isn't it?" Rachel spoke reluctantly as she threw the empty ice cream carton into the trash can.

"Yeah, it's pretty late" Quinn joined her doing the same and leading the way up the stairs, being followed closely by Rachel.

"So this is gonna be your bedroom for tonight. It's not the Ritz but ... you know. I… um, there are clean sheets …" Quinn stuttered nervously, standing in front of her bedroom door.

"Today's been a good day, one of my best if I'm honest …" Rachel smiled timidly, leaning on the doorframe. "… which in this circumstance is unexpected!"

"Thank you, I guess?" Quinn replied hesitantly. An uncomfortable pause was generated, and the two locked eyes, a flood of emotions washed over them but neither seemed willing to say it out loud. "Anyway, um..." Quinn dropped her eyes to the floor. "Time for bed ... or sofa bed!" she ended shrugging her shoulders.

Rachel smiled at her adoringly. "Night!" she said and walked into her personal space, placing a sound and longing kiss on her cheek before breaking apart and walking into the room closing the door behind her.

"Good night, Rach …" Quinn sighed still feeling the warmth of Rachel's lips on her cheek.


	7. Chapter 6

Quinn had been lying on the couch for more than an hour and sleep didn't seem to come anytime soon. Upset about her unsuccessful battle with insomnia, she was tossing and turning on the couch, but it didn't help. Deep inside she knew that there was no chance of being able to sleep.

Her mind was racing so, driving her utterly out of her mind. She had spent a whole day with Rachel, who was now upstairs, in her bedroom, sleeping in her own bed after spending the whole time flirting with her nonstop, after telling her again that she loved her.

The blonde knew it was complicated, her soul ached at the memory about what had happened the last time she let it flow without being selfish enough to protect herself. Anyway, she couldn't control how she felt and having Rachel so close made all those feelings even stronger, almost impossible to handle.

Suddenly in the darkness and silence of the place, the creaking of the wooden floor caught her attention. She was sure that someone was bounded down the stairs and her heart already picked up speed wishing it was Rachel.

"Hello?" she whispered seeking confirmation and the reply came as quickly as expected.

"Hello!" Shira said grinning, wearing only her underwear.

"Shira..." Quinn groaned falling back onto her improvised bed, completely disappointed.

"I wonder if I could have a little word" she asked carefully.

"Of course" Quinn groaned not interested at all.

"I don't want to interfere or anything but she is single, right?"

"I guess so" Quinn answered without understanding the purpose of her roommate's question.

"And she is in your house, in your bedroom, in your bed?"

"Yes, Shira"

"And you two get on very well?"

"Kind of..."

"And she is as in lesbians with you as you are with her" Shira made a pause and Quinn just looked at her with a grimaced smile. "Well, isn't this a nice opportunity to perhaps ... tongue fuck the hell out of her?" Shira finished laughing amusedly, leaving behind all her seriousness with that last comment.

"Oh Jesus! Are you even human?" Quinn snapped back somehow embarrassed. "Besides, she is in trouble right now... get a fucking grip, you can't talk like that!"

"Okay, you think it's a wrong moment, fair enough!" Shira replied thus ending the conversation. "Do you mind if I have a go?"

"Oh screw you, Shira!" Quinn yelled through her gritted teeth, reason enough for Shira to return for where she had come from in silence.

Quinn huffed frustrated and tried to close her eyes to find sleep, but the creaking of the wooden floor caught her attention again. "Oh please, get the fuck off here and let me sleep once and for all!"

"Okay, I'm sorry!" Rachel replied, walking the stairs back up a little embarrassed.

"No, not you. Wait!" Quinn immediately sat up on the couch, feeling guilty about her outburst. "I thought you were, um... someone else." Quinn explained but she saw Rachel's confusion and went for another try to make her understand. "Shira, I thought you were Shira. I'm really glad that it's you instead!"

Rachel bit her lip and smiled shyly. Quinn fixed her eyes on her and she let it flow, leaving behind all her fears and all the pain. She stood up, gapped the distance and lost herself in those deep dark eyes for a moment before letting her gaze wander over Rachel's body. She licked her lips instinctively as she took in the sight of those tiny shorts and that loose t-shirt Rachel was wearing.

The distance between them felt painful and unnecessary, Quinn moved closer and closer, except for a slight pause in which she raised her gaze, looking into Rachel's eyes almost asking for permission for what she was about to do. Rachel granted her this permission dropping her gaze to Quinn's lips running her own tongue over her own lips and that was the answer Quinn needed.

With sudden confidence, Quinn took the last step, titled her head almost in slow motion and captured Rachel's lips with hers in a firm yet gentle, caring way.

And Rachel kissed her back, her hands clutched Quinn's waist trying to bring her even closer while the blonde moved away from her lips placing soft and playful kisses on every little piece of flesh she found on her way as her hands slipped underneath the fabric of Rachel's T-shirt, her fingers trailing up the brunette's sides teasing the warm skin and eliciting shivers.

It was a moment of passion and caring, impossible to put into words. Their bodies sizzled with the wild sensation of energy. For a brief second they pulled apart just long enough to look into each other's eyes seeking confirmation that it was in fact very real. Seeing the other's desire was all they needed in that moment to let go completely.

Rachel smiled shyly. For the first time ever she felt so small, not even in high school when she was bullied had she felt that way. But it wasn´t anything bad. It was just the tension of the moment and her state of nervousness because she knew what was about to happen. She took a deep breath and searched for Quinn's hand. When she found it, she grabbed it and dragged the blonde upstairs with her.

Once inside Quinn's room her shyness and all her worries were gone. Rachel fell back on the bed pulling Quinn down with her. The blonde was kneeling on top of her as Rachel sat up causing Quinn to straddle her lap. Rachel's hands found the hem of Quinn's shirt and slipped underneath the fabric. She slowly moved her hands up and brought the shirt with them, throwing it on the floor a second later. She let out a deep sigh when she saw Quinn's exposed body. She was finally able to see her naked for the first time. Her body was slender and beautiful and she wasn't wearing a bra. Rachel looked up and saw that Quinn was a little nervous, so she removed her own T-shirt to follow suit.

Quinn's lips eagerly landed on Rachel's mouth and the brunette moved one hand to the back of her head pulling her in for a soul warming kiss and entangeling her fingers in unruly blonde hair. Their desire set the pace in their heated make out session. The kiss deepened, tongues frenetically dancing, sensually exploring each corner and crevice. Quinn moaned softly and her warm lips began to wander. She left a trail of kisses towards Rachel's neck, then showered it with hungry, hot and moist kisses, lightly suckling on all the right spots, driving Rachel mad with lust.

"Quinn ..." Rachel moaned hoarsely.

A tingling sensation invaded their bodies, their torsos were pressed against each other, their hands caressing every inch of skin. They were craving for exact the same thing, release.

Quinn's kisses began to get dangerously close to the brunette's breasts, her hands slid up over her stomach rising to cup her breasts, her fingertips rasping against the peak of her nipples, encirceling them but never touching them.

"You are so gorgeous, Rach" Quinn sighed in her ear rendering a special erotic touch in her voice and her lips brushing lightly against her earlobe, feeling how Rachel trembled at the touch.

Rachel's arms slid along the blonde's bare back, kneading each inch, feeling the solidity of those muscles, pressing their bodies together as if she needed that contact, that heat, to keep her alive and thrusting her hips upwards for more friction and pressure.

"Make me yours, Quinn" she breathed out right in the blonde's ears. Her voice was fire, pure sex poured out with each syllable and drove Quinn crazy.

Quinn scrunched up her eyes , vibrating from head to toe and letting these words echo in her mind. She'd been longing to hear that from Rachel for years, years of yearning and in that moment everything was so overwhelming.

Without thinking and adrenaline conquering her body, she bent down and captured one of Rachel's rosy buds between her lips, massaging it with her tongue, eliciting a long moan from Rachel, leaving her at the brink of insanity.

She watched her with darkened eyes burning with desire, passion and a love without limits for her and felt the brunette's body shiver under her touch. She couldn't help but suck harder wanting to feel and taste her as much as possible, and giving her as much as possible causing a wave of excitement wash through Rachel's body. Her thumb brushed across the hardened nipple as her lips slowly moved to the other breast taking it into her mouth. Rachel was stunned and moaned in ecstasy getting closer to the edge.

Quinn continued down leaving a trail of gentle kisses and nibbles across her lower abdomen. Her core was throbbing with want just seeing her shudder under her touch. Her tongue darted out to slowly lick her soft skin around her belly button.

"Take them off!" Rachel moaned ecstatically when she felt Quinn's fingers dance over the hem of the shorts that she had stolen from Quinn's closet earlier.

Quinn raised her gaze and swallowed hard when she looked into the depths of the dark brown pools of desire that were Rachel's eyes. There was no doubt that Rachel really meant it and so she slipped her fingers into the side of the shorts and slowly pulled them down together with her panties. Her fingers slightly brushed the toned skin of the brunette's legs while tugging down the fabric and removing her clothes completely, leaving the brunette totally naked in front of her.

"Oh god, you are so gorgeous …" Quinn sighed as her deep dark hazel eyes scanned over the well-toned body of the brunette. Her fingertips travelled over the freshly exposed skin up her legs, tickling the sensitive skin of her inner thighs and causing a trail of goose bumps to rise in the wake.

Every touch was so gentle, so slow and deliberate. There was no rushing, no need to hurry, no need to end this wonderful torture for the brunette who was fisting the sheets under her trying to control herself.

"Take yours off, too, I want to feel you, all of you" Rachel gasped out. And after seeing the mischievously grin on the blonde face she decided to take over the reins and be the one to undress her, but with the help of Quinn who was still above her. "I want you, Quinn" Rachel moaned frustrated, fixing her gaze onto darkened hazel eyes, sparkling with intensity. They both gasped at the connection, their eyes had darkened with arousal and only seeing that made their cores burn with desire.

Rachel perceived a sliver of doubt in Quinn and decided to assume control, she sat up and her lips began to place soft little pecks on her nose, her cheeks and then her neck. Quinn tilted her head to expose more skin and Rachel continued to kiss her neck, stopping only to lick and suck at a particular sensitive spot, making the blonde moan softly. Her hands wandered freely over Quinn's body allowing her fingers to touch Quinn's silky skin delicately until she reached her breasts. She gently cupped the swell of her breast whimpering softly at the feel of the nipple hardening against her palm as she squeezed the soft mound.

"Oh fuck, Rach…" Quinn muttered tipping her head back, trembling as she felt Rachel's tongue run playfully over her hard bud of nerves.

The petite diva made sure to taste every bit of skin she could. She finally captured one of her harden nipples in her mouth and rolled her tongue around it while her hand tweaked the other nipple. Quinn continued to moan and arched her back, offering her chest to her even more. Shuddering heat spread through her body right up into the depths of her core. She was so close already, just from that aphrodisiac of her voice and the erotic moans.

Noting her reaction, Rachel strung a trail of hot kisses to her other nipple. As she reached the firm nub, the brunette placed several tentative kisses around it before taking it into her mouth, swiping and circling the pink bud with her tongue, eliciting several pleasurable moans as an answer.

When she wanted to change position, Quinn had regained enough of her strength to take control and so she grabbed her gently at the wrists pinning them to the mattress above her head and forcing her to lie down. Her hand slipped lower, skipping over the area that so wanted to be touched and crawling down to Rachel's inner thighs, tracing patterns over the skin there. The brunette's hips bucked, her legs shifting beneath the blonde, eliciting a muffled grunt.

She reached out and spread Rachel's legs apart before pressing her lips in a line of kisses downwards. Rachel could feel her breathing on her, causing her to shiver even more.

The brunette was being caught completely off guard when Quinn ran her tongue over the wet pink flesh, tasting. A loud moan escaped her lips at Rachel's divine taste while the little diva whimpered in pleasure and utter lust. Quinn captured the sensitive bundle of nerves with her mouth sucking at it lightly and massaging it with her tongue. She encircled the brunette's thighs with her arms forcing her to stay in place.

The blonde continued to gently lick at Rachel's throbbing core until the brunette pulled her hair lightly as sign for her to move up to her mouth and the blonde bowed to her wish, as usual. She slid one of her thighs between Rachel's legs, a shiver of approval running through her when Rachel couldn't help but moan at the sudden pressure.

The brunette pulled Quinn close and kissed the hell out of her. Rachel's moans at tasting her own scent on Quinn's lips and tongue were swallowed by the blonde's mouth as she began to thrust her hips against Rachel trying to settle in the right pace.

Quinn lowered her body to allow their cores to meet increasing the friction that they had been craving for and she growled loudly as she began a fast pace, meeting her hips in perfect rhythm.

Rachel's hands slid down the blonde's back until she was able to grab the cheeks of her perfect ass, squeezing it and pulling her closer at the same time leading Quinn to quicken their pace.

Their hearts were racing and they both were breathing heavily, but never slowing down their thrusting, throaty moans and groans echoing in the room. The air began to disappear, the heat to increase, but they kept going, lost in space and time, just focused onto each other. Quinn felt her body melt into Rachel's; even the slightest touch made them shiver.

Quinn pulled away a bit to look into Rachel's dark brown eyes which were full of passion and fire and she knew that they were right there. They couldn't hold out much longer and they both didn't really want to anymore.

The brunette pushed herself up on her elbows and captured the blonde's mouth in a heated and needy kiss. It was deep and fierce yet so intimate and sensual that it was the last thing to send them over the edge just a couple of seconds later.

The world around them began to blur and a wave of beautiful, pure emotion washed over them, overwhelming their senses, a rush of bliss.

Quinn's orgasm erupted within her, sending wave after wave of intense pleasure coursing though her body a second after Rachel's climax had hit her full force. She collapsed on top of Rachel who was still trembling. Quinn's entire body was vibrating as the waves of ecstasy slowly ceased. It was the most intense orgasm the blonde had ever experienced.

Rachel placed a tender kiss on the blonde's shoulder and hugged her, stroking her sensitive skin gently with her fingers.

When Quinn's breathing calmed, the blonde moved to capture Rachel's lips with her mouth again. She needed to feel her, needed some kind of confirmation that it hadn't been a dream, that it was in deed very real, and especially that it wasn't something for the moment and that it was what they both had wanted.

The tender kiss became more and more heated and needy before Quinn reluctantly broke apart and placed a soft kiss on the brunette nose before kissing along her cheek reaching her ear. "I love you, Rachel Berry" she whispered with a husky voice, igniting Rachel's body in a blink of her eyes.

The petite diva flipped them over pinning the blonde's hand with her own against the mattress, their gazes locked for a couple of seconds and it was as if they were communicating through an intimate language that only they both knew and understood.

"And I love you, Quinn Fabray" Rachel sighed, completely overwhelmed.

"Kiss me" Quinn pleaded bucking her hips into the air, incredibly turned on.

Rachel smiled and she leaned down, brushing her lips lightly against the blonde's, sharing each other's breath for a moment before she closed her eyes and captured the tempting mouth with hers. Her chest rose and fell quickly and she felt her heart beat uncontrollably and she felt the fear that her lungs wouldn't be able to suck in the precious oxygen around her. Her breathing became shallow and she struggled to inhale a few gasps of air but she never stopped kissing her. She even deepened the kiss, holding onto her as if her life depended on it.

Those passionate kisses led to an even more heated make out session which led to a lot of more things as the night continued.

**xxXXXxx**

It was late, and they were tired. But they stayed awake for most of the night, feeling safe and content in each other's arm. This simple act gave them a feeling of utter contentment and turned the moment into the best time of their lifes.

Feelings of fatigue finally overcame them, and so they closed their eyes and fell into a peaceful slumber; still holding onto each other, not wanting to ever let go.

Quinn woke up to the sun streaming in through the window and smiled broadly realizing that her face was buried into the brunette's hair. She was spooning the brunette, her body pressed to her back, her legs entangled, her arm resting on the shorter girl's abdomen and her face snuggled into the back of her head. Rachel was still soundly asleep, with her hand over Quinn's, as a way to make sure the blonde wasn't going to leave her during the night.

After some minutes Quinn moved smoothly in bed just to get more comfort and get closer to Rachel, at least if that was something possible, but for her surprise the brunette whirled around, snuggling closely into her, head resting in her chest as she spoke with zero sleepiness in her voice. "So ... do you regret what happened last night?" she asked coyly, catching the blonde completely off guard.

"What? No! Of course I don´t, Rach. Why are you asking such a stupid question? Do you?"

"No, I don't. It's just ... I don't know! Rita Hayworth used to say: They go to bed with Gilda, they wake up with me'. You know like ... someone went to bed with the dream and then they didn't like it when they woke up with the reality" Rachel ranted, her thumb stroking sweetly over Quinn's skin. "Do you feel that way, Quinn?"

"Rachel Berry, you are my dream and my reality at the same time. And I'm not talking about your success, I'm talking about that girl from high school. The one that made me fall head over heels for her even when she was wearing those ugly sweaters" Quinn laughted and Rachel pulled away a little to look into her eyes, asking the blonde for a clear and sincere answer. "I do not feel that way, I love you and I think that this you, with sleepy eyes, messy hair and beautiful naked body is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I will ever see!"

"You are something else, Quinn, aren't you?" Rachel smiled and leaned over to kiss her but stopped half way. "I'll be right back …" she whispered placing a soft kiss on Quinn's exposed breast as she sat up on bed taking the sheet to cover her body but It was stuck and so she stood in front of the blonde in all her naked glory and padded around the room under Quinn's rapturous look as she gathered her clothing.

Quinn buried her blushing face in the pillow, still finding it hard to believe what was happening.

Rachel didn't return immediately and so the blonde stretched her stiff muscles, sighed happily, turned over and snuggled down into the sheets. Rachel returned 15 minutes later with a large tray in her hands.

"Breakfast in bed?" She smiled, biting her lip and looking at Quinn as if she saw her for the first time, the blonde was breathtakingly beautiful. "Or brunch, or something …"

"God, you are perfect!" Quinn beamed at her moving over a little to make room for Rachel next to her. Rachel smiled at her thankfully. "Can I stay a bit longer?" she asked blushing, but without shame for expressing her desire to spend some more time with Quinn. It sounded needy because she was longing for her touch and yearning for this peaceful moment.

The blonde on the other hand felt the relief of hearing those words, knowing that everything was better than fine and grinned amusedly about the ridiculousness of that question. "Stay forever" Quinn replied with smiling eyes.

"Okay!" the petite diva laughed and took a bagel in her hand without taking her eyes off Quinn. "Shit, I forget the knife…" she groaned already jumping out of bed again.

"I like your shirt" Quinn laughed when she saw that Rachel was wearing an old cheerios shirt that she had kept.

"Good memories, couldn't help it!" she chuckled rolling her eyes, in the same moment the doorbell echoed through the entire house. "I'll get the knife, you get the door" Rachel indicated before disappearing.

Quinn assumed that it could be Martin and got out of bed reluctantly, put on a baggy shirt, a pair of shorts and bounded down the stairs quickly, passing by Rachel giving her a tender kiss on her neck before getting to the door without even worrying about her look.

When she opened the door, she was stunned by … everything. She was blinded by hundreds of flashes, she gasped, tensed, frozen in place until her mind started working again and she jumped back into the house closing the door abruptly "Holy shit!" she cursed to herself and hit her head against the door.

"What? What is it?" Rachel asked walking towards her with an amused smile. "Is it Shira? Don't make her leave again!" the brunette protested and forced her way to the door leaving the blonde behind.

"Rach... no!" Quinn attempted to warn her when she had regained some control over her actions again, but it was too late. The brunette opened the door and stood in front of hundreds of photographers and journalists ready to jump at her throat.

"Oh my god!" Rachel mumbled closing the door and retracing her steps to stop in front of Quinn. "Oh god! They got a picture of me like this!" she pointed to her suggestive outfit. "And a picture of you like that, and ... Fuck, Quinn! Look at that hickey!" Rachel panicked staring at the mark on Quinn's neck. Everything would be crystal clear for the press. Everything, she was going completely nuts just at the thought of it.

Quinn stood there, still in shock and Rachel rushed past her and ran to get her phone. When Quinn recovered from her shock she immediately looked for Rachel and found her in the living room talking on the phone with someone.

"Morning, darling ones!" Shira greeted them only wearing her underwear but she didn't catch the attention of any of the two.

"Yes, the press is here. No, there are hundreds of them ... My brilliant plan not was so brilliant after all. Yeah, I know, I know. Just get over here!" Rachel growled angrily and cut the call. "Dammit!" she cursed running up the stairs without even looking at Quinn.

The blonde went to change in the bathroom, then finally moved to her bedroom and found Rachel sitting on her bed putting on her shoes. "Are you okay?" she asked fearfully.

Rachel stood up with her back towards her. "What do you think, Quinn?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay? I don't know anything about it" Quinn explained sweetly.

"You don't know? Well what happened is that your crazy roommate thought she'd make a buck telling the paparazzis where I was"

"You are sounding like a bitch, Rach. Come on, you know that's not true." Quinn said quietly but when she saw Rachel spinning around looking at her completely pissed, she stepped back.

"Really? The entire British press got up this morning and thought 'I know where Rachel Berry is. She is in that house with the blue door in Notting Hill.' Jesus, Quinn!" Rachel whined, pacing through the room gathering her things. "And then you go out in your goddamn pajamas, with your messy just-fucked-hair and that huge hickey on your neck!" Rachel yelled, her anger increasing.

"Well whose fault is it that I ended up with this huge fucking hickey, Rachel?" Quinn replied raising her tone of voice, totally frustrated. "Look, I'm sorry but you don't need to treat me like this, you know it's not my fault!"

"This is such an unbelievable mess. I come to you to protect myself against more crappy gossip and now I'm the focus of attention all over again. For God's sake, I've got a boyfriend, Quinn! I'm not even officially out as bisexual!"

"WHAT?" Quinn yelled suddenly filled with anger. "What did you just said? You are kidding me, right?"

"I don't have a stupid boyfriend in real life, but as far as the press is concerned I do. And now, tomorrow there'll be pictures of you and me in every newspaper from here to Timbuktu. Not only am I cheating, but I'm also coming out of the closet officially with this"

Quinn was silent realizing why Rachel was freaking out like that and she kind of understood her. "I'm sorry Rach but please calm down, let's stay home and..."

"No, you stay calm!" Rachel yelled angrily before turning around, grabbing her back and leaving the room to go downstairs.

"Rach, Rachel!" Quinn attempted to stop the brunette and ran after her. "I'm begging you here, Rach. Calm down, how about a cup of coffee or tea?"

"I do not want a goddamn cup of coffee! I just wanna go home!"

The doorbell rang and Quinn asked Shira to look out of the window to see who it was, the girl obeyed and immediately told them that it was in fact Rachel's driver.

"Shira owes you an expensive dinner, or holiday. Depending if she's got the brains to get the going rate on betrayal!" Rachel joked bitterly, already heading towards the door.

"For god's sake Rachel! She wouldn't do that. Stay, please..." Quinn begged again.

Rachel took a deep breath and paused, turning around to face her. "What?"

"This is crazy behavior. Can't we just laugh about all this? Seriously, in the huge sweep of things, this stuff doesn't matter. Just, look at my best friend, she slipped down stairs, cracked her back and she's in a wheelchair for the rest of her life ... All I'm asking for is a normal amount of perspective"

Rachel snorted in disbelief, her anger was growing wildly. "You are right, you are right. It's just that I've dealt with this garbage for 5 years now when you have had it for ten fucking minutes. Our perspectives are pretty different, Quinn!"

"Today's newspapers will be forgotten by tomorrow!"

"Excuse me?" Rachel faced her close to losing control because the blonde just didn't understand.

"You know what I mean. It's just one day... tomorrow, today's newspapers will all have been thrown away forever."

"You really don't get it. This story gets filed, Quinn. Every time anyone writes anything about me, they'll dig up these photos. Newspapers last forever, I will regret this forever!"

"Woha, that's ... oh god, you are doing it again!" Quinn shook her head in disbelief, disappointed, already stepping back to put some distance between them.

"No, don't do this to you and don't do this to us. I'm not regretting what happened last night but the way I handled things, I was stupid and careless and I shouldn't be like that!"

Quinn looked at her with gloomy eyes, still feeling Rachel's words destroying everything they had experienced in the last hours. "You are probably right, you better go" Quinn whispered hoarsely.

"Quinn, don't …" Rachel went to her still angry but trying to make her see where they were. The brunette leaned over to find her lips but Quinn turned and the kiss was placed on her cheek.

"Come on, Quinn! Of all the people in this world you should be the one who'd understand me, leave the skeletons in the closet!"

"And what do you meant with that?"

"That you, more than anyone else, should understand what it means to want to keep a clean image, even after making mistakes!"

"I remember my past very well, Rachel. Yes, I made a lot of mistakes and I'm not proud of who I was, but you know what? I learned from my past and that's why I don't agree with you right now!"

The two connected their gazes but Quinn was the first to look away.

A second later the bell rang again and Rachel cursed mentally.

"It's not over, Quinn!" Rachel whispered putting her glasses on and taking a deep breath before exiting.

Quinn stayed in her place and watched as Rachel opened the door and was lost among hundreds of photographers who were still waiting for her outside. The door closed and Quinn stayed inside, the silence invading everything. She simply whirled around and walked into the kitchen, like a ghost, but for the first time she forbid herself to cry. She wasn't going to do it to herself again, no matter how much it hurt and how frustrated the situation was.


	8. Chapter 7

Quinn couldn't shake off the feeling of dejá vu. For the second time after those 6 long years, they had spent a day together which ended in a huge fight, but this time it hurt more. Her heart ached at the memory of that day and especially that night. A lot had happened and a lot had been said that day.

Rachel had been awful to her but before leaving she had tried to approach Quinn and explain her actions. The blonde had rejected her attempt; perhaps that was the reason why the brunette hadn't called or come back to her or perhaps because of that determination that Quinn displayed when she almost threw her out of her home.

For whatever reason she didn't know but she hadn't heard from Rachel in more than 2 weeks. Not personally at least. She had read many articles on the internet or in the newspapers, all of them talking about how the brunette was back in America, in LA filming her new film.

"Any calls for me?" Quinn asked as she entered her house, throwing her purse on the floor and flopping herself on the couch next to Shira or more onto her who was watching television.

"No, and I really don't know how are you still waiting for her to call you after all this time. Why don't you call her instead?"

"I don't have her number!" Quinn huffed, stretching her legs and settling on the couch for sitting Indian style in her corner.

"But you can get it in a blink of an eye if you want to!" Shira smiled while eating her hamburger and paying more attention to the television than Quinn.

" _It's not over,_  that's what she said to me… Why would she say that if she wasn't thinking about calling me back?"

"I repeat, you could have called her as well!"

"It was her who should have called! She was the one who freaked the shit out because of the fucking press. She even blamed me for this! She said that one of us was the one who called them…" Quinn's rage was increasing; she fixed her eyes on the wall remembering her fight that day. "It wasn't me who made the call" complained frustrated.

Shira was suspiciously silent and Quinn noticed it after a couple of seconds, looked up and saw that the girl had returned her attention to the TV screen. Quinn looked at her intently and suddenly everything connected.

"Was it you?" she asked, her voice a pitch higher than usual and her eyes almost pleading her roommate to deny it, but she already knew the answer.

Shira almost choked with her hamburger when she heard Quinn's question, she didn't know what to say because she feared the blonde's reaction.

"No, no ... please ... please, tell me you weren't the one who called them!" Quinn begged, sinking into the couch, rubbing her front head with her fingers, anger cursing through her veins.

"I may have told a few people down at the pub" Shira confessed wearily, fearing that angry look of the blonde.

Quinn made a pause, she closed her eyes and focused on controlling her breathing before she spoke in a frightening calm voice. "Right... great" she said and stood up, walking towards her room in silence.

She had not only fought one more time with Rachel, but also doing her injustice. And she hadn't rectified it by calling Shira and asking her. She couldn't expect anything from the brunette.

"I'm sorry Quinn, I ... I'm truly sorry!" Shira apologized from the other side of the door, knowing that the blonde could hear her.

Quinn fell in bed, snuggled into the pillow and closed her eyes breathing slowly. Yelling and fighting with Shira wouldn't help. She was the only one to blame; it was her who didn't trust Rachel enough to go and talk with her roommate in that moment. She was the one who had blamed Rachel for her going nuts and now she realized it. It was her fault, and only hers.

**xxXXxx**

"Bella is really drunk, isn't she?" Quinn laughed amusedly, seeing how Honey and Bella were hugging and chuckling loudly in the distance.

She and all her friends were at Tony's restaurant celebrating the first anniversary of it.

They had already finished dinner and Shira was dancing around the tables, Tony playing the piano and Bernie singing. Bella and Honey shared drunken hugs and Quinn was sitting beside Max, sipping a glass of wine in one of the corners.

"I think she is" Max laughed, looking at his wife in adoration.

Then things went quiet for some seconds, Quinn was relaxed and had a big smile on her face just seeing her friends having fun. She had already apologized to all of them earlier for her behavior over the past months and she had done the same with Santana, Brittany and Sam through Skype earlier this week.

Every memory about Rachel had finally disappeared from her head, though ... just thinking about how Rachel had disappeared from her head was a clear sign that everything was still present and vivid.

"So you've laid the ghost?"

Quinn quickly turned to face Max. When their gazes connected she knew what was he talking about. She sighed giving him her best fake smile, not even a piece of happiness in it, not fooling anyone with it. "I believe I have…" she stated dryly looking into his eyes.

"So you don't give a damn about the famous girl?"

"No" Quinn said not even convincing herself, but still trying hard to do it, to move on. "No, I don't think I do."

Max turned to face her and grinned suspiciously mischievous. "Which means you won't be distracted by the fact that she's back in London, grasping her Oscar, and currently to be found filming, most days, on Hampstead Heath" he finished nonchalantly as he threw a newspaper on the table, just in front of the blonde.

Quinn froze for a second, her heart beating faster, her lungs no longer receiving oxygen, and her jaw almost hitting the floor. She drifted her eyes form Max to the piece of paper and gripped it hastily. She pulled the newspaper closer and saw Rachel's smile in a huge picture, looking more elegant than ever and she… she …. Quinn sighed surrendering herself to the fact that she couldn't fool herself. She saw her strength fading away. "Oh ... god, no!" she growled without taking her eyes off the picture.

"So not over her, in fact!" Max mocked her but Quinn was no longer listening to him, she had already submerged in her own Berryworld.

Her eyes stayed fixed on the photo, the words underneath it confirmed that Rachel was once again close to her. She let the paper slide from her hands and reclined in her chair, her mind racing. Every fiber in her knew that there was only one way and that fighting it didn't help.

**xxXXxx**

"I can do this, I'm Quinn Fabray and I can do this, it's not over" Quinn whispered to herself as she marched up a hill, walking through The Heath _,_  a large, ancient London park, approaching the Kenwood House that was the specific place in which Rachel was filming her movie.

Getting closer to the house, Quinn approached a barrier where two bodyguards dressed in black were taking care of the security and denied access to everyone who wasn't part of the stuff.

"Can I help you?" asked one of them as he saw Quinn standing in front of them.

"Yes... I am looking for Miss Rachel Berry" Quinn replied immediately.

"Does she know you're coming?"

"No, no ... uh, she doesn't " she responded with a noticeable lack of confidence.

"I'm afraid I can't really let you through then, Madame"

"Oh right. I mean, I am actually a friend. I'm not a crazy fan" Quinn tried to argue but knew she wouldn't be able to convince him.

"Can't let you through, madame" the man repeated politely and Quinn nodded.

Just then the blonde raised her gaze and saw, thirty yards away, a trailer's door open and Rachel came out of it, looking gorgeous in an aristocratic dress, with an elegant hairstyle and surrounded by a small group of people, maybe make up, hair, costume and some kind of assistants with them.

Quinn's breath died in her throat, she couldn't take her eyes off the brunette who walked slowly to the house and then casually turned her head in the blonde's direction. They both connected their gazes, Rachel recognizing her immediately, remaining paralyzed looking at her standing behind the barrier next to the security people.

The brunette stared at Quinn, a neutral look that didn't show anger or joy. It was mostly confusion and concern knowing that meeting her there in public was more than just complicated.

Quinn intuitively waved at her, shyly and for just a brief second, but it was enough for Rachel to smile back at her and walk towards Quinn, followed by her cluster.

The two body guards stepped back when they saw the petite diva walk to them and Quinn decided to walk towards her to meet her halfway.

"Quinn" Rachel sighed standing in front of the blonde with a puzzled but calm expression.

"I only found out you were here yesterday and I... I just ..." Quinn blushed for the first time realizing that she didn't have a game plan. She was speechless, she didn't know what to say or do, nothing was coming from her mind in that moment.

"I was going to call you but ... I don't know ... last time you kind of..." Rachel stuttered nervously, not knowing what was the right thing to say in a situation like that.

 _"Rachel"_  one of her assistants shouted capturing their attention and reminding them that they weren't alone.

"Yes!" Rachel nodded to the girl before returning her eyes to Quinn. "Thing are not going very well, and it's our last day here..."

"Absolutely!" Quinn interrupted defensively. "You're clearly very busy" Quinn said disappointedly.

"But... if you could wait, there're things to say, Quinn" Rachel murmured, looking into her eyes with a pleading look.

Quinn's face lit up, the blonde was expecting a rejection but Rachel seemed interested in talking to her and that was more than she could have asked for after what her roommate had caused.

"Okay!" the blonde smiled shyly.

"Drink tea, there's a lot of tea" Rachel joked as she walked away, she was needed on her mark for a new scene.

Quinn stood there enthralled by watching her, some seconds later she was dragged back to reality by the voice of one of Rachel's assistant.

"Come and have a look!" the girl invited her and Quinn nodded already following her, walking onto the set. "Are you a fan of Sophia Coppola?" the girl asked as they walked.

"This is a Sofia Coppola film?" Quinn blurted out in disbelief, her face lit up not only because she was in fact a fan of the director but because she recalled the conversation she and Rachel had up on the terrace of her house.

"Yeah" the girl smiled, walking faster to get to the back of the house through a tunnel covered with plants. "This is Harry" she indicated, pointing to a man who was standing a few yards away, under an umbrella, with several pieces of equipment under his control and surrounded by several chairs with the names of cast members and crew. "He will give you a pair of headphones so you can hear the dialogues."

Quinn nodded thankfully and walked towards the man who was already waiting on her with a pair of headphones that he handed her when she was close.

"Thank you very much" The blonde took them from his hands and sat down on the chair that was next to him.

A complex scene was about to start, hundreds of extras, horses and carriages completed the scene. Quinn put on the headphones and adjusted the volume. She could hear the voices of Rachel and her co-star immediately.

"We are living in cloud-cuckoo-land; we'll never get this done today!" She saw the man that was complaining while Rachel wasn't really interested in chitchatting with him, just waiting for the moment in which they would start to shoot the scene.

"We have to. I need to be in New York on Thursday" Rachel added nonchalantly.

"Oh, stop showing off" he growled. His gaze was distracted by one of the extras who was walking around. "God, that's an enormous ass!"

"I'm not listening" Rachel said indifferently.

"No, but seriously ... it's not fair. So many tragic young teenagers with anorexia and that girl has an ass she could perfectly well share round with at least ten other women and still be beg-bottomed."

"I think looking at something nice like that, you and your bony little excuse for an ass would be well-advised to keep quiet" Rachel said ironically and Quinn had to laugh about the typical Rachel Berry in that statement. "Now down to business. At the end of the scene I ask you when you're going to tell everyone and you say...? "

"Um, tomorrow will be soon enough!"

"And then I... yeah, okay …" Rachel mumbled, mentally preparing herself for the scene.

"Tell me, who was that chick I saw you talking to round the back? Now that you are out of Narnia you are showing your love for British ladies?" he asked teasingly, again carrying on the conversation on a completely non-professional level.

Rachel raised her head, stared at him arching an eyebrow. She tried to put a certain amount of confidence in her answer, it was none of his business. "Oh, no one, no one…" she said aching at the words. She had to move her eyes to some place in the distance. "Just a friend from the past, a friend from high school. It's a bit of an awkward situation. I don't know what she's doing here"

Quinn heard each and every one of Rachel's words and she felt each one of them ripped her heart out. She didn't expect for Rachel to recognize her as her girlfriend or as someone who she would be involved romantically. First because she wasn't her girlfriend or lover and second because it would be an uncomfortable situation for Rachel. But what she expected was for Rachel to at least recognize her as a friend, as someone close to her, as someone who was part of her life. But the words were crystal clear and kept echoing on Quinn's head vehemently.

She didn't want to feel that way but couldn't help but be disappointed. Not just because of the words themselves, but for how naïve she had been, again, thinking that maybe she and Rachel could be on the same page, wanting the same.

That was it. The blonde stood up, slowly removed the headset and handed them to the man in charge of the sound, thanked him politely and walked away.

No, there was nothing left to do there any more, she wouldn't be waiting for Rachel, she wouldn't give her another chance to make fun of her and her feelings.

"I can't do this... It's over. I'm fucking done" she whispered as she got out of the place and away from Rachel.

**xxXXxx**

Unlike previous times, this time Quinn didn't hide in her room. It wasn´t worth it, so the next morning she woke up earlier than usual, performed the same old routine skipping the newspaper part and walked straight to her bookshop.

Martin recognized that something was wrong and so he didn't bother her all morning. Quinn had decided to spend her time at her little office, behind the desk, organizing some paperwork and looking for something that could make the business more profitable.

"Quinn?" Martin called her popping his head through the door. "I do hate to disturb you whilst you're cooking the books, but there's a delivery for you!" he said a little anxiously.

Quinn sighed and glanced at him exhausted, not wanting to deal with anything or anyone. "Martin, really… can you just do it yourself?"

"But you see, this is not for the shop, this is for you" Martin smiled forcing her to give up.

"Okay" Quinn growled leaving the papers on the desk, standing up and walking out of the office and into the bookshop. "Tell me, if I employ a wet rag, would I have to pay it as much as I pay you?"

Quinn had barely managed to pass through the door when she saw Rachel standing in the middle of the bookshop, wearing a simple pair of jeans, sneakers and a sweater that made her look like a teenager again.

"Hey!" Rachel muttered visibly nervous, her hands deep inside her pockets to hide her anxiety.

Quinn looked at her for one second and forced a smile that didn't fool anyone in the room. "Hello"

"You disappeared" Rachel quickly pointed out, staring into her eyes because it was the only place where she would get a real answer from Quinn. She knew that since they were teenagers because that was the way it had always worked.

"Oh, yeah, yeah I, um, I had to leave, it wasn't my place, I didn't want to disturb"

Rachel bit the inside of her cheek recognizing the bitterness in that comment but decided to use all her patience and not create some kind of confrontation so fast. After all she was Quinn Fabray and if there was something that didn't help, it was to attack her.

"How have you been?" Rachel asked with a nervous smile, but trying to get to the blonde somehow.

"Fine, fine ... Everything much the same" Quinn replied without giving too much detail. "When they change the law, Shira and I will marry immediately" she joked again with a bit of irony, and Rachel recognized it but she still laughed with her. "Whereas you … I've watched in wonder. Awards, glory…"

"Oh, no. It's all nonsense, you know me better than anyone. I'm missing Broadway and the stage like mad, that's my place to be. You know that, you know me ... I'm still the same annoying girl with the big Jewish nose and an incredible, mind blowing voice"

Quinn offered a not very convincing tight lip smile, just looking at her because she didn't have words.

"Well, as you know, yesterday was our last day of filming so... it's over" Rachel uttered those last two words almost whispering, swallowing hard to contain the emotions that they generated.

The brunette made a pause to collect herself and to see Quinn's reaction, hoping that telling her that would force some kind of reaction, but to her surprise she found a neutral, empty expression, a blank face just waiting for her to continue speaking.

"But, I, um…" Rachel played with the ring on her finger nervously, not knowing what else to do because nothing seemed to get to Quinn. "I brought this for you from my home" the brunette confessed pointing to a huge, flat, wrapped package that was placed against the shelves. "So I thought I'd give it to you" ended with wreaking voice and a sheepishly smile, her lack of confidence growing rapidly.

"Thank you" Quinn said moving closer to it. "Shall I…?"

"Oh no, don't open it now, I'll be embarrassed" Rachel blushed, getting more and more nervous and frustrated to see that nothing went as she had thought.

"Well thank you. I don't know what it's for, but thanks anyway" Quinn smiled awkwardly.

"Actually I had it in my apartment, and I thought you'd..." Rachel got tangled in her words, she was lost in thoughts and began to drown in her own emotions. "But then it came to it, I didn't know how to call you … having behaved so… badly, twice. So it's just been sitting in the hotel." Rachel confessed, looking down, not bothering to hide her sadness and frustrations anymore. "But then you came so I figured…" she let slip the last words fixing her eyes on Quinn, speaking through them what she couldn't say with words.

A new awkward silence surrounded them. Her gazes connected for several seconds, but Quinn remained silent and that was driving Rachel crazy.

"The thing is ..."

Quinn just stared at her, waiting for the words to come out but when that didn't happen, she got nervous. She just wanted to end it quickly, once for all. "What? What's the thing?" the blonde asked as a customer, who never bought anything, entered the store. "Don't even think about it, go away ... now!" Quinn pointed to the door angrily and mentally thanked him when he turned around leaving the store. "You were saying?"

Rachel swallowed hard, took a deep breath and smiled trying to ease the growing tension. "I have to go away today, but I wondered if I didn't… Whether you might let me see you a bit … or a lot maybe" she finished in a soft, shy whisper. Her bright pleading eyes focused on Quinn who couldn't hide her surprise and joy to hear that, but it lasted just some brief seconds before she returned to her blank expression. "See if you could like me again... maybe we can be in love again. I don't know Quinn, I just ... I never stopped thinking about you, and I know this is kind of a déjà vu but ... I've been missing you since the very moment I left your house that morning. And I know that things are complicated between us, but it doesn't have to be like that. It's who we are... You have no idea how much you mean to me, Quinn!"

The blonde faced her without looking at her. She didn't let herself look into the brunette's eyes because she knew that could be her dead, the end of her strength. And especially because Rachel's words from the day before were still bouncing around in her mind and heart, a heart that was twisted in sadness seeing the vulnerability and uncertainty in Rachel's face in front of her. The brunette appeared as if she couldn't take it any longer and she had trouble holding back her tears.

"But yesterday, that actor asked you who I was and you just dismissed me out of hand" Quinn spoke as calmly as she could, but her own view was being clouded with imminent tears and her voice was shaking with the lump in her throat. "I heard you, you had a microphone and I had headphones…" Quinn added seeing Rachel's baffled face. The brunette was certainly not expecting that answer.

"You didn't wait for me because of that? Quinn, please! What were you expecting? You expected me to tell the truth about my life, my feelings to the most indiscreet man in England?" Rachel asked so sincerely and vulnerable that Quinn needed a few seconds to process what the brunette had said and what sounded like a valid argument in her heart.

Their eyes met and for a moment they lost each other in their intense gazes. Only Martin's appearance burst their little bubble.

"Um, excuse me Quinn, it's your mother ... it's Judy on the phone"

"Just tell her I will call her back in a little while" Quinn replied, her eyes still fixed on Rachel's.

"I've actually tried that thack but she said that you've said that before and now it's been 24 hours and the foot that was purple is now sort of blackish in color and..."

"Fine, I get it" Quinn groaned. "Perfect timing as usual, mother... give me a second" she ended looking apologetically at Rachel who nodded shyly.

"Can I just say, I thought 'Million Dollar Baby' was the most wonderful film?"

Rachel looked up and smiled at him, thanking him for his effort. Her eyes drifted over his shoulder where she could see Quinn, or part of her through a little window, before returning her eyes to him. "Is that right?"

"Yes, I, um, I've always wondered what Clint Eastwood's like in real life"

"I can't say that I know Clint all that well" Rachel answered with a smirk.

"He wasn't that friendly during the filming?" Martin asked curiously.

"Well, I'm sure he was friendly to Hilary Swank who acted with him in Million Dollar Baby" she replied teasing him a little. And she loved ragging him and even more when she saw his confused face totally embarrassed about his mistake.

"I'm sorry!" Martin said and she grinned, not giving a shit about if he recognized her career or not, just waiting for Quinn to come back.

The blonde reentered the room while Martin was still trying to apologize before disappearing in the back.

"I'm sorry for that!" Quinn smiled at her.

"It's fine…" Rachel mumbled, smiling back. "There's always a pause when the jury goes out to consider their verdict" she joked but in her eyes she was not very amused, just terrified for what Quinn was going to say.

Quinn didn't laugh, Quinn didn't even smile, she just took a moment to look at Rachel's eyes and put her hands in her sundress pockets trying to suppress any expression that betray her mind. "Rachel, look… I'm not the kind of girl that is head over heels for every person she meets, especially not with a girl. You know where I come from, you know me, you know all my versions and I... I just… " Quinn struggled, words didn't come to easy and Rachel was the one who really touched a nerve. "Can I just say 'NO' to you this time and just leave it at that?" she finished reluctantly, a shimmer of sadness in her eyes and a sad grimaced smile on her face.

"Yes, fine... of course" Rachel said giving the worst performance of her life, trying to camouflage her pain caused by the rejection. She hadn't expected that. "I'll just get going then … It was so nice seeing you again!"

"Rach, the thing is..." Quinn rushed her words to cut in and stop her from leaving. She needed to do things right this time, she needed to explain her answer. She didn't want to make Rachel feel as if everything she had told her was a lie. "You and I are different, so different, we have always been. And I'm so madly in love with you, Rachel, that ... that with you, I'm in real danger. It seems like a perfect situation, differences and our past to the side, but my cold bitchy heart couldn't take one more punch, it's so broken already, Rach... I fear it would not recover if I was once again cast aside, which I would absolutely expect to be. There are too many pictures of you everywhere, too many films. You'd go and I'd be... well, basically fucked up, like always, but this time really worse"

"That really is a real 'No', isn't it?" Rachel responded with a painful smile and a tear leaking down her cheek.

"I live in Notting Hill, you live in Beverly Hills, Rachel. We were never meant to be, and we know it!"

"Good decision. God, what was I thinking? You are so good to me and even with my awards and all those fans, the truth is it's still just me, t he same old Lima loser, who can't even get a girl who is, apparently, already in love with me. Can I be more pathetic?" Rachel smiled bitterly and saw Quinn attempt to cut her rant so she rushed her words. "I ... god, Quinn! You know me. You say you love me and I …. The fame thing is complicated, but is not a real thing. I'm still Rachel Berry, you know? The same girl that was always looking after you without even realizing it back then, why I was doing it... I just… "Another tear rolled down her cheek and again Rachel quickly whipped it off with her sleeve, starting to get frustrated. "God damnit, Quinn! I'm just a girl standing in front of another girl asking her to love her" the petite brunette ended, her voice was shaking and tears running over her cheeks.

Rachel's heart broke a little more with that confession and Quinn's heart by listening to it, but her decision was made, she couldn't go back. She had to be selfish, she had to say no to Rachel for the first time, because that was the only way in which she was able to rebuild her life.

Time stood still around them, their eyes spoke volumes but Quinn's decision was made, nothing could be done to change it and Rachel knew that this was the end, there was nothing more she could do to convince the blonde.

"Goodbye, Quinn" Rachel mumbled shortening the distance and placing a soft, caring, longing kiss on her cheek. Their eyes snapped shut, their hearts were racing and their breathing hard. A pleasurable shock went through their bodies from head to toe, and then Rachel reluctantly broke apart, opening her eyes at the same time that Quinn did and they connected their gazes one more time.

Seconds later the brunette whirled around and began to walk away, Quinn watched her go, inwardly torn. This time it was Rachel who wasn't looking back, this time it was the brunette who let out the tears just one second after stepping outside. Both felt that this was the end of an era, their common path was about to end.

Quinn leaned her body against a shelf, looking for support as she watched Rachel walk to the car that was waiting for her.

Emptiness taking over her heart and mind, just remembering all the beautiful moments they had shared, experienced and enjoyed together.


	9. Chapter 8

"So what do you think? Good move?" Quinn asked after a huge pause. She was sitting in the same place as two nights ago, but this time with the rest of her friends looking at her.

All of them were staring at her and listened carefully to her version of the events, how Rachel had come to the bookshop and asked her for another chance and how she had rejected her. And all of that just a couple of hours ago.

"Yeah, good move …" Bella broke the awkward silence trying to sound convincing and supportive.

"I mean, when all is said and done, she's nothing special. I saw her taking her pants off and I definitely glimpsed some cellulite down there" Honey added after a pointed look from Bella.

"Yes, good decision… yeah. All actresses are as mad as snakes" Bella kept going, helplessly trying to support her and get the rest of her friends to do the same.

"Tones, what do you reckon?" Quinn asked him, turning her attention to the corner where he was standing.

"Never met her, never want to" he responded shortly.

"Brilliant!" Quinn nodded. "Max?"

"Absolutely. Never trust a vegetarian!"

"Great, thanks ... awesome!" Quinn gave a dull smile that didn't fool anyone.

In that moment Shira entered the room, panting hard because she had obviously been running trying to get to the meeting in time. "I was called and I came. What's up?" She asked, visibly nervous.

"Quinn's just turned down Rachel Berry!" Honey said, since the rest remained silent.

Shira frowned and turned to look at Quinn with a strange expression. "You daft pussy!" she said, being the first of them to express their true feelings, a thing that caught Quinn off guard.

"That painting…" Bella spoke quickly, catching Quinn's attention. The blonde whirled around to face Bella and follow her gaze to the package Rachel had given her earlier that morning and that was resting against the wall. "… isn't the original, is it?"

Quinn looked at the frame half wrapped in paper for a second. It was the original painting by Chagall, the one of which she had a poster in her kitchen, the same they had been talking about when Rachel stayed at her house a couple of months ago. "Um, you know, I think it might be, yeah" the blonde admitted with a grimaced smile that was only further evidence of her pain.

"But she said she wanted to go out with you?" Bernie asked, needing further clarification. Quinn nodded and he took a second before saying what really crossed his mind. "Well that's nice!"

"What?" Quinn asked him baffled.

"Well, you know ... anyone saying they wanna go out with you ... is pretty great, isn't it?"

Bernie stared at her friends looking for some kind of support from them, but none of them said anything. They were looking in all directions but Quinn's, trying to hide what they really thought.

"It was ..." Quinn was trying to catch everybody's attention but paused, her mind was processing the whole scene, Rachel's words, the tone used, her stunning image, even with a simple outfit, away from the elegance with which she used to wear these days. "Sort of sweet, actually. Um, I mean, I know she is an actress and all that, so she can deliver a line pretty well but ... I also know her, I know her better than anyone else. I have always been there for her and she has always been there for me... I know her, the girl, the woman, not the celebrity"

Quinn paused and saw that all her friends were watching her intensely soaking up every word she said. Then she took a deep breath and considered how to put something into words. It was the only detail she had omitted until that moment, never mentioning it because she needed to keep it to herself, because it vibrated with intimacy in every word, every letter. "Before she left, she said she might be as famous as she can be, but that I know her, and in the end she was just a girl standing in front of another girl asking her to love her" Quinn finished with tears in her eyes and a trembling voice, trying to not break down completely in front of them.

When she looked up, she saw her friends, each of them lost in their own thoughts, in silence, taking a moment to analyze what she had said. It was obvious that each one of them felt with her and could identify with it. But none of them could feel those words like she did, not in a million years. It felt like little electric shocks in the depths of her heart when Rachel told her that and now it hurt even more, just remembering it.

The silence helped her to sort things out in her mind, to connect the dots, to free her thoughts.

Repeating those words out loud, watching the reaction of her friends to such a powerful and at the same time simple statement of love, she knew it. She had made a huge mistake to let her go.

"Oh god! I'm such an idiot! I screwed everything. I've made the wrong decision, haven't I?" Quinn tried to get the bottoms of this, dropping her head in disbelief her hands in front of her eyes. She suddenly lifted her head and looked at her friends with a spark of determination in her eyes.

"Yes!" Shira said nonchalantly, nodding eagerly. Her voice was calm but she definitely knew what Quinn's intention was.

"Max, how fast is your car?" Quinn asked with a fire in her eyes, knowing she would not allow things to end just like that, not if she had a say about it.

**xxXXXxx**

Just over 10 minutes later everybody was finally inside the car. Honey, Shira, Bernie, Bella, Quinn and Max, who was the driver and the one in charge of keeping the balance even when everybody was screaming in a wild frenzy.

The journey through the streets of London was chaotic and nerve-racking. Other cars honked at them, other drivers waved their arms wildly at them.

When the finally reached the entrance of the Ritz, Quinn jumped out of the car and ran to the hotel lobby followed closely by Bernie.

She rushed her way to the receptionist running into a bunch of guest and knocking them over on the way.

"Hi, is Miss Berry here?" Quinn asked panting heavily after putting on an extra burst of speed for the last few feet. Her growing anxiety was to be blamed as well.

"No, madame" he replied.

"How about Miss Funny Brice?"

"No, Madame."

"Uh, Dolly Levi?"

"Nope!"

"Daisy Gamble? Esther Hoffman?... I don't know, Cheryl Gibbons?" Quinn named all the characters Rachel had ever mentioned but the man's response stayed the same. So she didn't know what to do, leaving was not really a choice. "Thanks, sir …"

The man glanced at her and raised an eyebrow, but when Quinn turned around and walked towards the exit he couldn't contain himself and spoke again catching Quinn's attention discreetly. "But there was a Miss Rose Thompson Hovick!"

Quinn's face lit up and she returned to the desk in a blink. "Patti LuPone, of fucking course!" she smiled and approached the man who looked around subtlety.

"But she checked out about an hour ago. I believe she's holding a press conference at the Savoy before flying to America" he said with a friendly wink.

Quinn looked at him and bit her lip, not knowing how to thank him. She decided to screw the etiquette and leaned over the counter to kiss him on the cheek as an appreciation. "Thank you, Sir!" she beamed at him before running away, Bernie decided to go along with her and kissed the guy as well.

Another 10 minutes later, all of them were back in the car and Max stepped on the gas and put up a good fight with the other traffic participants. They needed to get to the Savoy asap, but those busy London Streets didn't really help and so they were stuck in traffic a minute later.

"Bugger this for a bunch of bananas!" Shira puffed as she sneaked out through window and followed by the astonished looks of all her friends she walked straight to the middle of the street, boldly stopping the traffic.

Max needed a second to react, Shira cleared the way so they could move again and that's what they did. He held his thumb up as they were passing Shira and accelerated.

Anxiety was consuming Quinn, who was biting her nails desperately to get to the destination. And when they finally did, Max parked outside the hotel and Quinn jumped out of the car for the second time. She ran into the hotel, determined to find Rachel.

"Excuse me?" Quinn spoke to a young man who was at the reception. "Where's the press conference, please?"

"Are you an accredited member of the press?"

"Yep, there you go!" Quinn nodded with a huge lack of confidence, took the first card she wound out of her wallet and showed them to the receptionist.

"That's a credit card, Madame!" he said annoyed.

"That's right, it's a Visa credit card because Visa is the sponsor of my column in American Cheerleader!"

"I'm sorry, Madame…" the man replied harshly, ending the conversation and returning to his duty.

"She's with me!" a female voice could be heard and when Quinn turned she saw Bella wheeling in her direction, with Honey by her side.

"And you are ...?"

"I'm the one who is writing an article on how London hotels treat people in wheelchairs!" Bella replied sharply, challenging the man behind the desk.

"Yes, of course, Madame. It's in the Lancaster Room. But I'm afraid you're rather late" he replied with fake smile and was pointing in a direction.

"Run!" Honey ordered and Quinn was already on her way down the hall to the place he had indicated.

There were several doors. The first was closed, the next one as well and Quinn began to get impatient. The last door gave her access. She entered and saw a room full of reporters, photographers and other random media people.

Quinn mingled with the crowd watching the monitors showing an image of a melancholic and uninterested Rachel, not even endeavoring to smile.

Reporters continued with their questions, while Rachel remained silent and let Jeremy, the PR guy, answer the questions about her and for her.

 _"Rachel, how much longer are you staying in the UK?"_  asked one of the media guys after receiving the OK form Jeremy.

Quinn stood in the middle of the crowd, staring at Rachel and seeing how she was leaning forward, getting closer to the microphone as she let her eyes roam the room searching for who had asked the question. "No time at all, I'm leaving tonight" she muttered with a grimaced smile.

"Which is why we have to round things up now, so final questions, please!" stated Jeremy, who set the pace of the questions.

 _"Does your decision to take a year off have anything to do with the rumors about Mr. Hudson and his present girlfriend?"_  inquired a woman, making Quinn go tense, bouncing in place waiting for the brunette's answer.

"Absolutely not!" the petite brunette replied determinedly.

 _"Do you believe the rumors?"_  the woman asked again, trying to get a statement from her that would serve as a powerful headline for the article she would be writing later.

"Well, it's really none of my business anymore. Though I will say, from my experience, rumors about Mr. Hudson tend to be true" she ended smiling bitterly causing laughter from the people in the room.

Quinn didn't laugh. Quinn was still tense after hearing her speak about Finn. She suddenly began to be aware of everything that he had caused. He had hurt Rachel more than once and she had done so much for him. Rachel even had pushed his pathetic acting career.

_"The last time you were here, there were some fairly graphic photographs taken of you with a young lady. So, um ... What happened there? "_

"She was just a friend. We're still friends, I think." Rachel answered hoping that it was true. She closed her eyes and pictured Quinn's face in her mind, recalling Quinn's sparkling eyes that morning she was lucky enough to wake up in her arms after making love all night. She couldn't help but feel a stab in her heart and a lump in her throat knowing that scene was something she wasn't going to experience again.

Quinn swallowed hard and decided that that was her cue. She had to act and get her girl. With the same determination she used to have as HBIC, but with the maturity to not think about her precious social status or her reputation.

Following her heart she stepped forward and raised her hand, waiting for Jeremy to pick her.

"Yes, the lady in the yellow cardigan!" Jeremy pointed in the blonde's direction.

Quinn was silent for a second while Rachel lifted her gaze and look through the crowd, finally finding who got the microphone and recognizing her immediately.

"Yes, Miss Berry …" Quinn spoke clearing her throat and putting on her serious face. Not only because she had to do it but because of the jitters, too. "Are there any circumstances in which the two of you might be more than just good old friends?" Quinn stated speaking slowly, even in the distance staring right into deep shinny brown eyes.

Rachel took a deep breath, never removing her eyes off Quinn. "I hoped there would be, but no, I'm assured there aren't." the brunette replied trying to remain neutral, her melancholy gone and her face lit up genuinely.

"But what would you say if..." Quinn began to speak when Jeremy interrupted her stating that it was only one allowed question per person.

Anyway Rachel tilted her head and told him that it was okay, that she wanted to answer this question as well. So the man couldn't do anything but to give in and let Quinn finish her new question.

Quinn was relieved with Rachel's attitude, seeing a light of hope at the end of the tunnel. So she decided to risk everything in that moment and go for it. "I was just wondering if, uh, it turned out that this person ..." Quinn paused and one of the journalists who were there reminded her that 'Fabray' was the last name of that person. Quinn thanked him suppressing her amused smile before proceeding. "I just if Ms. Fabray realized that she'd been a bitchy insecure asshole…" she stated without paying attention to the vulgarity and ferocity of her words and how they surprised Rachel. A noisy murmuring developed among the reports. "… and got down on her knees and… begged you to reconsider, whether you would, in fact, reconsider?"

Quinn stopped breathing waiting for Rachel's answer. The rest of the room was invaded by a deadly silence, showing how everyone, not just Quinn, was deeply immersed in the story and craved for the brunette's decision.

Rachel's face was indecipherable but the corner of her lips slowly moved up. She was beaming, her most genuine Rachel Berry megawatts smile, lit up the whole place before saying the words that Quinn was longing to hear. "Yes, I believe I would!" she replied flirtatiously.

Quinn's smile mirrored Rachel's. "That's very good news ... the readers of American Cheerleader will be absolutely delighted!" she finished followed by loud laughter from the crowd and huddle of whispers. But she didn't care, she just focused on calming her breathing.

Everything around her faded and there was only one center of her attention. There, in front of her, was the one adorable Rachel Berry, love of her life, who smiled at her and looked her in the eyes, right into her soul.

The brunette leaned over and whispered something to Jeremy, who a second later told a guy who had already asked his question to ask it again.

 _"Rachel, how long are you intending to stay here in Britain?"_  he asked again, baffled about Jeremy's request.

The brunette landed her eyes on Quinn's hazel orbs and smiled broadly. Knowing in advance what her response would cause but not giving a damn about it. "Indefinitely!" she sighed never taking her eyes off the blonde, smiling at her across the room as if everybody had disappeared and it was just the two of them.

People around them shared strange glances and began to figure out their connection. And so, just seconds later, everybody in the room was looking at Quinn, finally realizing what was happening before their eyes.

A flurry of camera flashes blinded them, Quinn's face was lit by the flashes, same as Rachel's. They both smiled totally absorbed in their own little world. They knew that the glow on their faces wasn't caused by the flashes. They had finally found happiness and that was it … the end of their long trip. After so many years of aimless traveling they had finally reached their destination.


	10. Epilogue

_4 years later..._

Quinn read the last words of the book she held in her hands and sighed deeply, a content smile on her face.

She lifted her gaze and soaked up the magical atmosphere around her.

It was a summer afternoon in Notting Hill, a blue sky completed the perfect fairy-tale. Especially knowing that grey was the dominant color on London's sky in every season. However, Notting Hill had become a second home for both of them in the last four years. Their other home was New York City, where they shared a penthouse that they had bought after getting married two years ago.

Since that fateful afternoon on which Quinn finally figured out everything, the two had never been separated for more than a couple of days. Now they split their time between Notting Hill in London and Chelsea in New York. Rachel had left the Hollywood scene and focused on her career on Broadway, again.

Quinn looked around and smiled happily, intoxicated by the beautiful atmosphere. It was the same park they had broken into over 4 years ago. Only this time being here was legal. The two had full access to the garden since Rachel had decided to buy a huge house that was next to it two years ago.

After showing Quinn her new acquisition for the first time, Rachel had dragged the blonde to the garden. It was another magical night and she had accompanied her to Joseph's beautiful bench, forcing her to take a seat. And then she had kneeled down and proposed with a beautiful, classic ring that matches Quinn's beauty but not so much her humbleness.

Now they were in that same spot, the same magical place as the first time, the same fairytale land as in proposal night.

Rachel was reading something on her iPad, lying with her head on Quinn's lap one hand intertwined with the blonde's, her thumb gently stroking Quinn's hand. They were just enjoying an evening outdoors in one of their most favorite places in the entire world.

"This is unbelievable, I'm anxious to finally see it being released" Rachel smiled, placing the iPad on her bag as she lifted her gaze to dive into those two adoring hazel oceans.

The blonde blushed and bit her lip holding a huge smile that struggled to appear. "You really like it?"

"I loved it ... I'm so proud of you, Quinn!" the brunette sighed placing her hand on the back of Quinn's neck and pulling her down to capture her lips in a deep kiss. It was full of love. "I have always been proud of you" she confessed with a final peck.

Quinn broke apart but kept looking at her, her mind at peace. Six words appeared out of the blue and she just said them aloud: " _The end is where I started"_

"Huh?"

 _"The end is where I started,_  that will be the title of the book!" Quinn beamed still unable to take her eyes off her.

 _"The end is where I started?_  I like it ... no, I love it!" Rachel grinned back and pulled her down again to kiss her gushily. Then she grabbed her iPad again and read the last paragraph out loud.  _"(…) And that's how I arrived at the same port I had sailed away six years before ..."_  she smiled playing with words, adding them at the end of the book that Quinn had just finished and that already had a publisher.

After reading her notes she had taken on her journeys over and over again, she decided to write a book. This book turned out not to be a travel guide as intended but a book about their arduous journey in search of a place to call home.

The title was well-chosen and referring to Rachel. The brunette had been present in every part of her book. She had always been a part of her and her big adventures in life. She was her past, her present and would be her future.

"So, my first book has a title and my wife has a show on Broadway" Quinn smiled mysteriously.

"That's odd, I think I'm the only wife you have, aren't I? And as far as I know I haven't signed anything" the brunette joked.

"This play here is impressive!" Quinn said pointing to the script she had been reading for the last two hours. "You have to do it, I want you to do it"

"What do I get in return?"

"A kiss?"

"Not good enough, blondie!"

"Two kisses?"

"Nah-huh!"

"A kiss and a bear hug?"

"Try harder…"

"What about me packing our luggage for our next trip?"

"You already did that, smartass!"

"No, I didn't, silly!" Quinn smiled challengingly.

"Quinn Berry-Fabray! THAT'S NOT FUNNY! Tell me you are joking!" Rachel snapped at her getting really pissed, trying to put some distance between her and Quinn, but the blonde didn't let her. "Quinn!" the brunette whined. "We have to take that flight tonight!"

"Everything is finished and ready to go, stop freaking out"

"It's not funny, don't do this, Quinn. Did you put the..."

"Yes, Rachel …" Quinn growled. "I put the book that I sold you 4 years ago into the suitcase. After waiting so long to finally travel to Turkey, I wouldn't forgive myself if I hadn't packed it … I'm even planning on using it every day."

"You-are-almost-the-most-perfect-person-in-the-world!" Rachel said, inserting a kiss in between each word.

"Almost? Who is the most perfect person?" Quinn looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"This had to be … me, love. I'm such a perfect girl! I'd do that play even if I never read it. I trust you"

"Yes, you are ... my perfect thing" Quinn tenderly kissed her again and pulled her closer to her body. Rachel entangled their legs and threw her arms around the blonde's waist.

Both sighed and set their gazes at a distant point, without really paying attention to that, rather making a mental projection of what their lives had been so far and how, despite the thousand changes and obstacles that had gone through, neither could remember a really important moment in their lives without the image of the other by her side.

"My only condition for accepting the role will be to change the name of my character to June" Rachel whispered, making Quinn smile.

"In honor of Joseph's June?"

"Yeah, the couple who inspired my marriage proposal, I owe them at least that" Rachel replied softly, eyes closed remembering that moment.

"Can you believe where we are now?" Quinn looked at her radiating love.

"Yeah, it's nice" Rachel replied nonchalantly, holding back her smile.

"Nice?" Quinn inquired baffled about Rachel's lack of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, you know ... nice as in a  _Surreal, but nice_  kind of way!" she finished, laughing enchantingly. At least till Quinn's mouth absorbed all those sounds kissing her deeply.

"Smartass …" the blonde breathed out, grinning shyly at her wife.

"Back at you, dork …"

Quinn smiled and pulled her closer to her body, feeling Rachel's arms holding her strongly. And that's how the two of them remained for the rest of the afternoon. Just sitting next to each other, knowing inside that it was the one and only  _Surreal, but nice_  kind of way… Some people do spend their whole lives together.


End file.
